Children of the Immaculate Heart

In 2023, The Refuge, our Short-Term Residential Therapeutic Program for foster and probation CSEC youth, served 5 youth between January and May. Unfortunately, in May 2022 we were forced to close the doors of The Refuge because San Diego County Child Welfare's contracts were closed, and a contract is necessary in San Diego County in order to get Mental Health Program Approval and a permanent license from Community Care Licensing. Despite this, we assisted these five young ladies with all of their residential needs, as well as enrolling them in school, providing for their transportation needs, medical needs, medication dispensation, and mental health needs. Youth were also able to attend equine therapy, recreational activities and outings, social outings, and various forms of exercise if they chose to. We are able to see growth in each girl that spent time with us, even though each one was at a very different point in her own journey. It was a privilege to be able to care for these youth and attend to their wellbeing and healing while they were with us. We were happy to be able to end on a strong note, with the best staff we had since opening our doors in 2020. We sold the building after closing and put that money into our other programs described below.

When The Refuge closed, we were able to retain our top two staff persons from that program. With their help, we were able to launch Emergency Services for the first time within what we already offer to adult survivors of sex trafficking. In the late summer we started a mobile clinic that allows us to respond to a victim of sex trafficking who reaches out to us for assistance within 24 hours. Our Program Administrator meets with the woman in need at a safe place of her choosing often a coffee shop or a park. She then does a needs assessment and starts to help them find safe housing. Clients are then connected with the case manager from St. Bakhitas Program and offered our longer-term services there.

In 2023, St. Bakhita's Program assisted 9 women who are survivors of sex trafficking. We specialize in assisting those who have children and thus find it more difficult to access services and housing. We had a graduation ceremony in November for five of the women and it was wonderful to be able to celebrate their growth and accomplishments over the years they spent with us! One of these graduates was even our keynote speaker at our 2024 Gala. We were able to assist these women with case management, securing housing, assistance with medical bills, therapy, groceries, and gas/transportation.