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If you think sex trafficking isn’t happening in Portland, think again.  Underage girls are commonly sold for sex in strip clubs and through online sites.  Portland has more strip clubs per capita than Las Vegas.

According to the Door to Grace web site, between 100,000 and 300,000 children are sold for sex in America every year.  Victims are sold as many as 15 times per day and buyers pay as much as $400 per hour for services.  Fifty percent of the buyers have a gang connection, but buyers are from all income levels, ethnicities, ages, and occupations.  Teenaged girls are lured in by older men who promise them gifts of clothes, jewelry, etc.  Soon the girls find themselves in a “corral” of other girls who are pitted against each other to serve a pimp.  A girl’s economic status doesn’t matter.   The common thread seems to be low self-esteem and unsupportive or absent parents.  Many girls are or have been in foster care. 

The Door to Grace is a non-profit organization that brings a safe and loving family to sexually exploited children.   The organization began in 2009 with a group of Portlanders moved by the exploitation happening in their own backyard.  Between 2009 and 2013, 469 trafficked children were identified in Portland.  The youngest victim was 8 years old.

The Door to Grace Day Home opened in 2011.  It has a fully stocked kitchen, a dinner table, desks and lockers, lots of sunny windows, cozy couches, an open door, and trusted, familiar faces.   Girls are taught skills such as cooking, financial management, and sewing.  The organization also matches girls with mentor volunteers whom they enjoy, trust, and connect with.   Since it opened, the home has served about 30 girls ages 14 – 17.   Girls are referred by DHS and Door to Grace cooperates with police, FBI, and other organizations to achieve its goals.

Three years ago, long time educator, Vicki Abbate would have never imagined herself as the executive director of Door to Grace.  During her 30 year career, Vicki had been a teacher, principal, and an adjunct professor.  She joined the organization after serving a short stint as its educational consultant.

Door to Grace uses a multi-faceted approach to help victims of sex trafficking, including:

  1. A REACH™ Program that is unique for each girl . . . within the areas of Restore, Educate, Arts/Activities, Community and Home, each girl develops her own unique plan.
  2. Girls are Free to come and go . . . Door to Grace does not hold girls against their wills. It starts with points of contact and slowly builds safe, trusting relationships around her.
  3. Door to Grace is a Community of Learning . . . learning side-by-side with the girls.
  4. The Girls Choose Their Mentors and Family . . . When a girl is ready to move into a Door to Grace Host Home, she chooses that home and family after spending time with the (Certified) Host Parents, discovering the routines of the household and the parents’ expectations of her.
  5. Door to Grace provides a healthy loving home environment . . . whether a girl chooses to participate only in daytime services at the Day Home or moves into a Host Homes.
  6. Girls do not “age-out” of the program but are welcomed and served as long as they have a desire to participate.