Student Staff Update from Courtney Knox

I am spending this semester helping Shared Hope International, one of our partner organizations, with the Protected Innocence Challenge. This is the second time I have had the privilege to work on this project. I love that it continues to challenge me and open my eyes to the many issues that child sex trafficking victims face every day. There is much work to be done in this field and I am honored to be even a small part in the fight against the atrocity that is human trafficking.

The specific issue we are tasked with this semester is identifying each states alternative processes to dependency and delinquency laws. Many states have what are called child-in-need-of-supervision (CHINS) laws, or something similar to CHINS. Our focus is on reviewing those laws and identifying the process and procedures associated with them. Our goal is to determine the consequences of going through the CHINS (or CHINS-like) process in order for Shared Hope to determine whether it will be a good thing for child sex trafficking victims to go through rather than a delinquency or dependency proceeding.

So far most states we have reviewed do have an alternate process, whether it is explicitly CHINS or just CHINS-like. It is very encouraging to know that there may be better avenues for trafficking victims to go through rather than traditional juvenile proceedings that might not always promote the best interests or needs of a child sex trafficking victim. I love this project because if we do identify that CHINS will best serve child sex trafficking victims, Shared Hope can then advocate on behalf of them and encourage states to move sex trafficking victims through this process. That encourages me to always work diligently and enthusiastically, trusting in the Lord to know that He will continue to bless our work and use it to serve the Shared Hope team and the trafficking victims they fight for every day.

This post was written by a Center for Global Justice student staff member.  The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect those of Regent University, Regent Law School, or the Center for Global Justice.