Florida to start writing rules for safehouses for human trafficking survivors

ORLANDO, Fla. — After the first of the year, the Department of Children and Families will start putting together rules for human trafficking safehouses across Florida.

It’s the result of reporting by 9 Investigates, that exposed the lack of standards or regulations for those safehouses, after several survivors who lived in one Central Florida home told us they felt re-exploited there.

▶ WATCH CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS

Another local organization is helping DCF put together the new rules, as they prepare to open their third facility to help survivors in Orlando.

Inside an East Orange County home, there are boxes of furniture waiting to be unpacked and cabinets waiting to be filled.

“We want to make sure our pantry is full of food, and those necessities that make a home a home,” Danielle Pierson said.

Read: “Hostage Situation’: Sanford man forced to pay thousands before emergency heart surgery in Mexico

Pierson took the helm as Executive Director of Samaritan Village this fall, and is overseeing the opening of the nonprofit’s third safehouse for survivors of human trafficking. The third home will bridge the gap between the organization’s long-established ‘Phase 1′ safehouse, where women spend up to 18 months healing immediately after exiting the life of trafficking, and SVI’s 3-year-old independent living home, where women who have graduated from the program can establish a rental history.

“This [new] stage home allows for us to continue to work with them on those day-to-day aspects of independent living and skill building while still giving them that cushion in between, because the healing journey is a journey,” Pierson said.

Read: Billions of dollars in gift cards expected to go unused, experts say

It’s a time of growth and transition not just for SVI, but for the state of Florida, as it becomes the first in the country to regulate human trafficking safehomes. That change comes after 9 Investigates exposed complaints about a different Central Florida facility earlier this year.

“I think it’s so easy for us to just open up a home; anyone can do that,” Pierson said. “But is it done in a practical way that is safe, that is truly using integrity and wisdom, and is it going to be survivor-centered and trauma-informed.”

SVI is one of ten organizations across the state that responded to a DCF survey to help develop the new standards. That survey revealed that in addition to the county-run stabilization shelter, four other organizations are in place in Orange County, putting the county second to only Hillsborough for the number of long-term beds available to human trafficking survivors.

Read: ‘Everybody’s catching flu left and right’: Statewide Flu cases on the rise

“Behind the scenes, it’s really been important for me to first understand what are the needs of the survivors,” Pierson said. “To come alongside of them and say, are we doing this correctly? Are we serving you all in the best way possible?”

The new regulations will lay out expectations for staff training, trauma-informed programming, resident-to-staff ratios, and security. Those standards will protect survivors and the organizations that want to help them.

“It’s just so awesome to be here and to be able to serve these women in a capacity that I know will forever change their life, and the trajectory of their lives for generations to come,” Pierson said.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.

©2023 Cox Media Group