The Butterfly Fund
About This Campaign
In 2018-2019, Stepping Stones Network initiated and developed the first long-term residential recovery program in the Midwest for sex trafficking survivors who have children. We have hired and trained an incredible team of capable and loving staff to care for and support them 24x7. The home is beautiful and welcoming. Our doors opened to our first residential clients on Dec 30, 2019 and our team has already supported the birth of a new baby and kept several moms and their children safe. We have come full circle -- one of our first non-residential clients has rebuilt her life and is now part of the team helping our new residential clients rebuild theirs.
We named our crowd fund The Butterfly Fund because the butterfly symbolizes transformation and joy. Its dance reflects the need for movement from where we are to our next phase of being.
We need your help to sustain our accredited program in 2021 and give our waitlist families the protection and long-term support they need to rehabilitate and transform their lives.
Your contribution to The Butterfly Fund will offer the gift of transformation and joy to these young women and children. If you give in December 2020, your gift may be doubled through a generous donor's $20,000 Match Commitment.
Thank you for being a partner in this movement!
About our Program…
Stepping Stones Network provides a holistic, structured residential programming for trafficked mothers and their pre-pubescent children, while also preventing these children from being exploited or sold. Our 12-18 month program, staffed 24x7, provides safety, community, beauty and basic needs. To help survivors achieve sustainable life change, we employ strength-based and trauma-informed approaches in the context of licensed therapeutic services, life and parenting skills, health coaching, education and vocational planning, and supportive relationship building. Child-care and therapeutic options will be provided for children during the day, while their mothers set goals, develop practical plans and skills, and establish social and professional networks to rebuild their lives. Residence is at confidential location in Lake County, IL.
Most residential recovery programs do not allow survivors to bring their children. We are only the second in the US to offer this option. Other programs are now reaching out to us for mentorship.
A few facts…
In Chicagoland alone, there are an estimated 16,000 to 24,000 women and girls being exploited for commercial sex. In most cases, they are victims being illegally trafficked -- forced, coerced or deceived. The damage to the body, soul, and spirit of those who survive is often horrific and requires an intensive recovery program.
Single moms can be particularly vulnerable to being manipulated into trafficking or being targeted by predators due to their desperation to provide for their kids and a lack of childcare. The BBC reported that 70% of women in prostitution and trafficking have children. Research shows that half of the children of mothers in prostitution or trafficking end up sold for sex as well. 87% of women in this life know of a child that has died. They need your help.