This Mission Time Courier piece tells the story of a runaway and her family as they fought to bring her back from the human trafficking industry and then worked to help her recover from the trauma it created within the young girl’s life. The story begins innocently enough when 16-year-old Lesley Buckley takes off with her friend to help her. What she didn’t realize then and only later found out was that her friend was wrapped up in a human trafficking ring and was being prostituted. Thankfully, after Lesley didn’t show up where she was supposed to be, her family got involved and took over finding her, knowing that the police would not prioritize it since the girl was dubbed a runaway. 

It’s More Than Just a Rescue

Erin, Lesley’s mom, her Dad Dave, and other family members, and the volunteers from Saved in America gathered enough information to find her after she had been gone for over five weeks. Erin noted that the rescue process was just the start of the journey they had to reclaim their daughter. Erin said:

“We naively thought that getting her back was the finish line and the end of challenges. However, we quickly realized that day that these girls needed to quickly transition to a new location away from their homes to avoid being discovered or coerced to leave again, and for residential treatment specializing in girls traumatized by trafficking.” 

Erin said her daughter was “a person we no longer knew.” She had “come back from being gone, a very different, traumatized girl.” 

Getting Lesley Help

Thankfully, Lesley was given a spot in a treatment facility in Utah where she stayed for months after her rescue for needed rehabilitation therapy. Lesley admits that at first she hated it and didn’t want to go, but eventually saw it as the start of her new life. Even with the rehabilitation and her efforts to get back to the person she was, she says her relationship with her parents isn’t the same as it was before she ran away. Sadly, this is the case with many young girls who experienced the trauma associated with human trafficking. While their post-trauma relationships might be different, they can still work to ensure they are healthy and get back to living life. Today, Lesley says she is living on her own and happy to work and do her own thing.