Founder of anti human trafficking group making inroads in Eastern Iowa

Teresa Davidson hasn't taken much of a break since organizing and hosting a daylong November 2016 human trafficking conference attended by hundreds from inside and outside Iowa.

For the last 14 years, she has been working to eradicate human trafficking through mission trips and work with Eastern Iowa groups.

In August 2016, Davidson, also a nurse practitioner, founded the nonprofit Chains Interrupted to combat human trafficking. Since November, she has been growing its board and volunteers.

Q: What has Chains Interrupted been up to?

A: We have about 12 board members. We've been working on trying to get a safe house up and running. What we're looking at is more of an emergency crisis center where victims can stay a day to two weeks. ... Most of them - when they get out of trafficking life - haven't slept for ages. They can start to heal and figure out what they want to do. If they are going to go into long-term restoration, they have to want that and have to work for it.

Q: Who are you working with to open a safe house?

A: We have a house identified. What we're doing is negotiating for the building and working on fundraising to furnish it and hire staff. We could have up to two people staying at a time, but they could not be from the same trafficker because that could be a safety issue. Wings of Refuge (a restoration house near Iowa Falls), Cedar Valley Friends of the Family and Foundation 2 will be partnering. We are calling on the churches of the town to be a big part of this, and we're looking for volunteer staff, too.

Q: What are some of the struggles survivors of trafficking go through after they enter a safe house?

A: We know only 1 to 2 percent of victims are rescued. Some will choose to go back to the life, some will choose to be reconciled with family members. It's their ultimate decision. They've also been through enough mental and emotional trauma that they need someone to really just walk beside them. They also have what I call 'circle vision.” They stand in the middle of the circle, and they can see just a very short time frame in front of them and behind them, but not the future. They would never put money in the bank because they can't see that far ahead. Some people can't see past an hour, especially if they're addicted to drugs. ...

Q: After the trafficking conference in November, you started an affiliate group to collaborate in Eastern Iowa. Who is in that group?

A: We have about 75 members in the community. It's pretty much anyone that has the capability to identify a victim or survivor or provide services to them, such as Cedar Valley Friends of the Family, Foundation 2, free medical clinics, hospitals, Department of Human Services (employees), foster parents and of course law enforcement. We are looking to get prosecutors on that team. That's a gaping hole.

Q: What goals do you have for the affiliate team, and what struggles might you face?

A: What I'd like to do is have an actual regional response team that works together for integrated care instead of everyone doing their own thing. Right now, the way it works (for a trafficking case) it's more of a get-together to talk about this case, find out information each other (service providers and law enforcement) knows so you can better make decisions. One of the struggles is all of the confidentiality laws prohibit that sharing. Law enforcement might know a piece of information that would make all the difference in the world to a service provider trying for a breakthrough. There's always slight tension with goals from those who are trying to protect privacy, safety, victims' health and those who want to prosecute the bad guy. Some people find it therapeutic to prosecute the bad guy. Other people find it traumatizing. What do you do when you've got a girl who is extremely traumatized, but if she doesn't prosecute, this trafficker is going to go on victimize hundreds? What I see the affiliate group doing is becoming that discussion group to talk about those hard decisions.

Q: What else are you working on?

A: We are partnering with Braking Traffic out of the Quad Cities. We've taken their curriculum into schools here locally. I've also offered a curriculum here locally for medical personnel and foster parents so they can go out (and spread awareness). I also want to become a sexual assault nurse examiner. But another problem is we don't have a good communication between service providers, so I don't know what it's going to be like for victims at other agencies. I've met some really compassionate people and some not so compassionate people. If I'm doing a sexual assault exam, and this girl is upset and crying, and I tell her, ‘to keep you safe we need to take you to Sioux City,' she's looking at me with tears in her eyes, asking what's going to happen to her. I don't know what's going to happen to her. It's just really, really hard.”

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