Jessica Muñoz was working as a nurse practitioner in Honolulu when she first learned American children were being bought and sold for sex.
Kids were coming into the emergency room where she worked, but their stories “just didn’t line up,” she says. Often, they’d been written off as troublemakers or bad kids, but Muñoz realized the truth: They were victims of sex trafficking and exploitation.
These vulnerable kids had been tricked or forced into sex work, and they had nowhere to turn. Muñoz decided to change that by founding Ho‘ōla Nā Pua, a nonprofit focused on preventing youth sex trafficking and providing care and healing for victims. The organization’s name means “new life for our children” in Hawaiian.
Under her leadership, Ho‘ōla Nā Pua has opened a 32-bed residential treatment facility called Pearl Haven that offers therapeutic services for children ages 11 to 17. The group also raises awareness about sex trafficking, runs a mentorship program and provides prevention education in schools. Ho‘ōla Nā Pua leads training for health care professionals, law enforcement and service providers who might have the opportunity to intervene.
“There was a real need to build a comprehensive model so that these kids could really find those pathways to freedom and healing,” she says.
We talked to Muñoz about her journey and how everyday people have the power to make a difference.
SUCCESS: What initially drew you to health care?
Jessica Muñoz: I was always really interested in people who were in the medical field—nurses, doctors, friends and family who were in health care. I was just fascinated by the stories they would share. And I could see the opportunities to provide hands-on support for people when they were in difficult times, facing health issues.
S: You’ve said you have a “justice gene.” What do you mean by that?
JM: We all have DNA. We all have different genes in our DNA. And I just think there are people like Corrie ten Boom, Abraham Lincoln, William Wilberforce and Florence Nightingale who have this relentless drive to make right what’s been wrong, to stand in the gap for the vulnerable and ensure that people are able to live a life of freedom and health.
S: Why are the victims of sex trafficking and exploitation so often labeled as “problem” kids?
JM: Behaviors are the language of trauma. If kids are into drugs or substances or running away, they’re running away from something to something else. We need to look behind the curtain and really understand what’s happening. Lots of kids get involved in delinquent behaviors, and people will label that as, “Oh, they’re just a bad kid or a troubled kid,” versus, “Wait, they’re a traumatized kid.”
S: How do people miss it?
JM: Part of it is oblivion. People are oblivious, and, for the average citizen, they think of the scary guy in the white van and kidnapping. But it’s actually the predator who’s online, who’s talking to kids and recruiting them subtly. It’s the boyfriend-type relationship. And so, there [are] just misperceptions of what this looks like and the prevalence of it.
S: Do a lot of people shrug off this issue? And, if so, how do you respond?
JM: The reality is this issue is everywhere. You just don’t see it. It [might] seem like, “Oh, that could never happen to my child,” but I can’t tell you how many upper-middle-class parents I’ve worked with. All it takes is a moment of vulnerability and unhealthy attachment for kids to end up in this situation and not even realize what they’re getting into. Everyone is online, and the internet and social media apps and all of those things that are supposed to be bringing us together also collide our worlds with perpetrators and people who are wanting to abuse and exploit. You just might not see it and realize it. But it’s dangerous.
I always challenge people. I say to them, “I don’t want to live in a world where this happens to children.” And I think of my own nieces and nephews, and I fight for them because they represent the thousands of children who are out there who this could happen to.
S: What makes sex trafficking and exploitation such a difficult issue to address?
JM: It’s complex because sexual issues are complex. Think about when we started talking about sexual assault and rape and the #MeToo movement. It creates a lot of emotion. It creates a lot of conversation. There can be a lot of finger-pointing. With this, there is a similar stigma around it because I think people also have a really hard time accepting that this happens to children—especially in America. “Wow, that’s crazy. Of course, you could see that in other countries but not our own.”
When you take that to the next level of processing, you go, “Well, why does this happen?” We wouldn’t have this happening if people didn’t [seek it out]. So, then you go into, “Where is this demand coming from? How do you address it?” Because it’s not the scary person crawling out from under the bridge that’s doing it. It’s the politicians, it’s the doctors, it’s white-collar, blue-collar. It’s all of the above. Think of the shame and the stigma around that. And those are the hidden things we don’t wanna talk about.
Children who suffer from this level of abuse and violence have complex trauma and need a comprehensive approach to healing. The over sexualization of our children has increased in our country over the past two decades. This further contributes to vulnerabilities of youth from all different types of backgrounds and socioeconomic statuses.
Photo courtesy of OpenWaterProductions
