Christy’s Cause founder, Christy Ivie. COURTESY PHOTO

Christy’s Cause, a nonprofit working to eradicate child sex trafficking and exploitation through education, public awareness, restoration projects and justice initiatives, announced the release of a new six-episode series focusing on sex trafficking and exploitation. Christy’s Cause founder, Christy Ivie, and her guests discuss topics such as The Effects of Trauma, Changing Mindsets, Smart Phone Security, Missing Children, and Why Data is Vital.

“During the COVID 19 pandemic, we felt producing a video series was a great educational opportunity to replace our annual Human Trafficking Symposium,” said Ms. Ivie. “With education at the heart of what we do and an excellent team of expert speakers, our goal is to help viewers better understand the crimes of child sex trafficking and exploitation as well as the lives of those who have survived.”

The videos were created by Old Sparky Productions in partnership with Volt Creative Services, and will be available at www.christyscause.com, YouTube and social media networks. They will be released weekly as of Oct. 12. The video series is sponsored by Wooden Eagle Custom Cabinets and More and made in collaboration with the Florida State Attorney’s Office, 20th Judicial Circuit.

Topic: The Effects of Trauma

Guest: Dr. Kanathy Haney, health sciences professor and chair of the human trafficking coalition at Palm Beach State College and guest lecturer at the University of Florida. A member of the Human Trafficking Coalition of the Palm Beaches and the Palm Beach County Human Trafficking Task Force.

Description: Dr. Haney will be answering questions including why most child victims don’t self-identify, what are barriers to identification, and what trauma looks like in child victims who are in survival mode.

Topic: Changing Mindsets: A Trauma Informed Approach

Guests: Sgt. Wade Williams, Special Crimes Bureau Exploitation Section, Collier Co Sheriff ’s Office; Francine Donnorummo, Special Victims Unit Chief, State Attorney’s Office 20th Judicial Circuit; Joann Medinilla, Executive Director, Into the Jordan, a Christ-centered counseling and wellness program for trafficked and exploited women

Description: Justice and healing require many agencies, organizations, resources and caring people working together in a trauma informed way. A survivor’s journey is not a sprint, but rather a marathon that requires a lot of patience. Our guests will help us better understand the value of a trauma-informed approach.

Topic: iPhone and Android Security (two videos)

Guest: Sgt. Wade Williams, Special Crimes Bureau Exploitation Section, Collier County Sheriff’s Office

Description: The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children experienced a 90% increase in CyberTipline reports between January-June 2020 versus the same period in 2019. We must secure our children’s electronic devices and establish boundaries for safer use. We discuss how parents can secure their child’s phone.

Topic: Missing Children: The Teen Runaway Epidemic

Guests: Corporal Alan Wilket, a 27-year veteran in law enforcement, oversaw the human trafficking task force for the Pasco County Sherriff’s Office for eight years. He currently serves on Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Statewide Human Trafficking Task Force; Lt. Jeremy Lindauer spent 32 years in law enforcement, and his last assignment was in the Special Operations Division Central Investigations/ Major Crimes. He is currently an instructor with the U.S. Department Homeland Security National WMD/ Counter Terrorism.

Description: All law enforcement agencies reported 421,394 entries for missing children in the United States in 2019. 90% of missing children entries represent teen runaways and 1 in 6 teen runaways were likely victims of sex trafficking. Runaway and homeless youth are particularly at risk of trafficking. The guests help to better understand human trafficking, share insight regarding obstacles law enforcement face, and how our communities can better utilize data and technology in fighting this epidemic.

Topic: The Value of Data in the Fight Against Human Trafficking

Guest: Francine Donnorummo, Special Victims Unit Chief, State Attorney’s Office 20th Judicial Circuit

Description: The crime of human trafficking severely lacks data, which has had an impact on social understanding, funding, policy and legislation. Data is the basis of research, and research has the power to create social and political change. To quantify the vastness of the human trafficking epidemic, the State Attorney’s Office for Florida’s 20th Judicial Circuit launched the Human Trafficking Counts project. The initiative relies on non-identifying data from those who provide services to victims within Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties. Christy’s Cause advocates for the project and the project is run by Donnorummo.

For more information about Christy’s Cause visit www.ChristysCause.com, email info@christyscause.com or follow Christy’s Cause on Facebook and Instagram. ¦