The Dr. Lois Lee Show

Dr. Lois Lee

Dr. Lois Lee — founder of Children of the Night and internationally recognized expert on child sex trafficking — brings over four decades of frontline experience to this powerful podcast. Each episode sheds light on the hidden world of child exploitation, giving voice to survivors, exposing systems that fail them, and championing solutions that protect vulnerable youth.

Through interviews, case studies, and unfiltered conversations, Dr. Lee reveals what really happens inside the fight against trafficking — from the rescue of prostituted children to legal battles, public policy, and the resilience of survivors rebuilding their lives.

Whether you are a parent, advocate, educator, or concerned citizen, this podcast offers the truth behind the headlines and the tools to create change.

Play

Open in

21 episodes
weekly
Avg 27 min
English

Episodes 21

Newest Oldest Longest

All20 Unplayed20 In progress0 Played0

Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.

#54
Thursday · 30 min· Video
Episode #54 - Diamond
Diamond was just a little girl when she was pulled into the life — robbed at gunpoint, thrown from a car, and left not knowing where she was. In this episode, she tells Dr. Lois Lee how Children of the Night found her, what shelter life was really like, and how she rebuilt: graduating pharmacy technician school, working in memory care, and raising three kids. Dr. Lois Lee — who has rescued over 17,000 children from sex trafficking — breaks down a distinction most people get wrong: the difference between sex trafficking and prostitution, and why the words we use matter for the kids still out there. If this story moved you, subscribe and share. Every view helps a donor see what their gift made possible. Learn more about Children of the Night: https://www.childrenofthenight.org #TheDrLoisLeeShow #SurvivorStory #ChildTrafficking #EndHumanTrafficking
#55
October 6 · 26 min
Episode #53 - Camrie
After Hurricane Katrina, Camrie's family left New Orleans for San Diego, where they were homeless for about seven years. At school, she was labeled with ADD and learning disabilities and moved from program to program. At 13, after a fight with her mother, she was kicked out and spent the night in a park, where a man raped her on a bench. She describes being recruited by a pimp, being returned home after missing-person reports, and testifying against him in court. Later, while on probation, she ran away to Maryland to meet a man she had met online, and she was exploited there too. A social worker brought her to the Children of the Night home. She stayed for two years, did regular schoolwork outside of special ed, and never returned to the streets. Camrie talks with Dr. Lois Lee about: How her trauma was misdiagnosed as a learning disability Childhood abuse and how it made her more vulnerable to exploitation Finishing high school, going to college, and raising two daughters Working in health care and planning to finish her degree in health administration What schools, lawmakers, and everyday people could do differently for kids like her. ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
#54
September 29 · 31 min
Episode #51 - Heidi (Pt. 3/3)
In the final part of her three-part series, Heidi tells Dr. Lois Lee about the five years that followed her time at Children of the Night. She moved to Las Vegas with a man who agreed to "work alongside" her, and she ended up back in prostitution while he took her money, isolated her from family, and grew more violent. With her mother's help, she made a plan to leave. After a night she believed would be her last, a friend came for her in her pajamas, and her mom arrived with a U-Haul to bring Heidi and her son home. Heidi describes starting over in Portland and Seattle, an eviction, and the long work of rebuilding. Today she is a specialty scheduler and project coordinator, and her son is 23. Dr. Lee offers to cover school, clear Heidi's arrest record, and pay for EMDR therapy. She also explains why the Children of the Night shelter closed after the 2018 law change and how the organization now serves 500 young adults a year. The episode closes with Heidi's message to parents, and to any young woman who is on a plane right now to meet someone like the man who found her. ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
#53
September 22 · 28 min
Episode #50 - Heidi (Pt. 2/3)
Heidi was 15 when she was trafficked, and in Part 2 of her story she tells Dr. Lois Lee what it took to get out and what came after. She describes how completely her trafficker controlled her, and how she still believed he loved her even as federal agents closed in. When investigators finally reached her, she stayed silent through a ten-hour interview, having been taught never to talk to police. A detective who understood the life eventually earned her trust, and she agreed to testify about how traffickers operate. Heidi speaks openly about the shame that surrounded her family and friendships, and about the road back. She arrived at Children of the Night to kindness, school, and girls who had lived the same thing, and it was her peers who first told her he never loved her. For the first time, she didn't feel alone. Dr. Lee also shares what it took in the early days to convince law enforcement that these were children. Heidi carries her story through leaving the shelter, earning her GED, and becoming a young mother, and it ends as she heads back toward the life, setting up Part 3. ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
#52
September 15 · 23 min
Episode #49 - Heidi (Pt. 1/3)
Dr. Lois Lee reunites with a survivor she first met in the summer of 1999, when the survivor testified in the federal trial against the man who trafficked her. In this first episode of a three-part series, Heidi describes being recruited at 14 by a pimp who approached her at a bus stop in Portland, Oregon, and spent a year grooming her over the phone before convincing her to run away and fly to Miami. There, she was isolated, forced to dress and perform for buyers, and sent out onto the track during Super Bowl season alongside another trafficked teenager. She recounts repeated arrests, violence at the hands of both her trafficker and buyers, and the circumstances that eventually led to a federal investigation — sparked by her mother's suspicion. Part 2 continues the story. ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
#51
September 8 · 30 min
Episode #48 - Brittany
Brittany was 17 and living with her mom in Mississippi when her older sister bought her a one-way ticket to Las Vegas, hoping to get her away from a bad home situation. Living under her sister's roof came with rules Brittany resented — and that friction set the stage for what happened next. In the parking lot of her sister's apartment complex, Brittany met a man she suspected was a pimp before he ever said so. What started as a flirtation turned into Brittany orchestrating her own ""kidnapping"" so she could leave her sister's house — against the warnings of a friend who saw the danger clearly. On her very first night out, Brittany was sent with a more experienced girl to meet a "client" who turned out to be undercover Las Vegas Vice. Brittany's intuition kicked in early — she noticed unusually heavy police presence around the strip — but her trafficker's threats kept her silent. She and the other girl used a coded signal ("I don't feel good") to try to pull away from the situation before the officer revealed his badge in a casino elevator lobby. Brittany was taken in for questioning, slipped up by signing her real name on a form, and was ultimately placed in juvenile hall for what became two months while authorities built a case against her trafficker. A juvenile hall guard told her she'd be back — a comment Brittany has never forgotten. In court, a public defender advocated for Brittany to be sent to Children of the Night rather than a juvenile detention facility, describing her as naive rather than a "bad kid." Brittany went on to testify against her trafficker and described the Las Vegas Vice detectives — the same officers who ran the sting — as her "guardian angels," crediting them and the public defender with seeing her innocence when others hadn't. Brittany lived at the Children of the Night shelter in 2002–2003, where she talks about the school program, a memorable classroom visit from Traci Lords, and the friendships she formed with other girls in the home. She left the program at 18, just short of the credits needed for her diploma, and reflects on that choice as one of her biggest regrets — though she's now working with Children of the Night to finish her diploma as an adult. Now a mother herself, Brittany speaks about how her experience shaped her parenting — sometimes in ways she's still working through — and closes with a message about protecting kids from predators, wherever they may come from, and a thank-you to the Las Vegas Vice unit that changed the course of her life. ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
#50
September 1 · 35 min
Episode #47 - Angelique
At 14, Angelique was approached at a party by two adult women who convinced her to take a "quick drive" to Texas — a decision that led to months of exploitation, control, and fear. In this episode, Dr. Lois Lee reconnects with Angelique, who lived at the Children of the Night home in 2005, to talk about the escape that finally brought her home, the years since, and what she's carrying forward as a mother of three. Angelique opens up about the moment she knew she'd been deceived, the elaborate psychological control tactics used against her, the harrowing details of her escape via a stolen phone call and a Greyhound bus, and a shocking violation of her privacy — a local newspaper that published her identity and explicit details of her abuse while she was still a minor. She also reflects on rebuilding her life through homelessness, incarceration, and custody battles, and what she wants lawmakers and other survivors to know. ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
#49
August 25 · 20 min
Episode #46 - Rose (Pt. 2/2)
In Part 2 of her conversation with Dr. Lois Lee, survivor Rose goes deeper into the family dynamics that let her abuse continue in silence — and what it took to finally break that cycle. Rose talks about the man who molested her serving just 30 days in jail, and how her family's instinct was to protect its image rather than confront what happened. She reveals that her twin sister was targeted by the same abuser — something the two never discussed, even decades later. Rose also describes how the abuser used the family dog as a tool of control, retaliating when she and her sister began to resist him. The conversation turns toward systemic change: Rose calls for CPS, schools, and lawmakers to look at the whole family picture instead of just the "acting out" child, arguing that behavioral problems are almost always a signal, not the root cause. She closes by reflecting on her own parenting — taking accountability for what her choices exposed her son to, and how that accountability made her a better mother. Rose ends the episode thanking Dr. Lois Lee and Children of the Night for being a lasting source of stability in her life, more than two decades after she first came through their doors. ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
#48
August 18 · 20 min
Episode #45 - Rose (Pt. 1/2)
Rose lived at the Children of the Night shelter home in the early 2000s. Today, she's a single mom of two working at a shelter that helps at-risk, homeless youth — carrying forward exactly what was once given to her. In this first of a two-part conversation, Rose sits down with Dr. Lois Lee to talk about what led her to the streets of Hollywood: years of abuse that began at home, a system that moved her from group home to group home, and a predator who found her at her most vulnerable. She opens up about surviving on the streets across multiple states, the moment her sister's search finally led her to Children of the Night, and the small, unexpected detail — a beloved dog — that ultimately broke her silence and changed the course of her life. This episode includes discussion of child sexual abuse, domestic violence, and child sex trafficking. Listener discretion is advised. Part 2 continues next episode — subscribe so you don't miss it. ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
#47
August 11 · 27 min
Episode #44 - Chelsea (Pt. 2/2)
In Part 2 of her story, Chelsea continues her conversation with Dr. Lois Lee, going deeper into the years she spent as a runaway minor and the abuse that shaped her path into exploitation. She describes being sexually assaulted as a child by a congressman in her town — a respected, church-going man no one would have suspected — and reflects on how often abusers hide in plain sight behind community trust and status. Chelsea also opens up about life on the run at 16, including how she gave a fake name to police and effectively became that identity for years, slipping through juvenile-justice loopholes that kept the system from recognizing her as a minor in need of protection. She and Dr. Lois discuss what could have been different had she been fingerprinted as a juvenile, and how those gaps in the system allowed her exploitation to continue undetected. The episode moves toward healing as Chelsea recounts reconnecting with her mother, who apologized and affirmed her experience — a moment Chelsea describes as deeply healing. She closes by reflecting on what she'd say to her 16-year-old self: a hug, and the reminder that she only ever needed someone to see her and believe her. This episode makes the case for residential care options specifically for prostituted adults 18 and older, an age group that often falls into a gap in available services and support. ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
#46
August 4 · 25 min
Episode #43 - Chelsea (Pt. 1/2)
Dr. Lois Lee sits down with Chelsea, a survivor she personally welcomed into Children of the Night as a pregnant 16-year-old fleeing juvenile detention in Las Vegas. Now 37, a mother of three, and approaching her ten-year anniversary out of "the life" this October, Chelsea shares the story most people never get to hear. In this episode, Chelsea opens up about the sexual abuse she experienced as a child that no one believed — and how that disbelief set off a decade of group home instability, self-harm, and eventually, life on the streets. She walks through her first encounter with a trafficker at 15, waiting at a bus stop after running away, and the manipulation tactics — food, clothes, cash, attention — that hooked her before she understood what she was agreeing to. She also shares how her final trafficker used her own child to build false hope of a family life, keeping her trapped for years. This is a raw, unflinching conversation about grooming, disbelief, and the systemic gaps that leave vulnerable kids exposed — and a reminder of why organizations like Children of the Night exist. Content note: This episode discusses child sexual abuse, grooming, domestic violence, and trafficking. Listener discretion advised. Part 2 of this conversation is coming soon — subscribe so you don't miss it. ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
#45
July 28 · 23 min
Episode #42 - Katey (Pt. 2/2)
Part two continues Dr. Lois Lee's conversation with Katey — from the choice she made not to testify against the men who trafficked her, to the winding path through foster care, a broken reunion with her father, and the healing she's found on the other side. In this episode: Why Katey chose not to testify against the gang that exploited her, and how that decision shapes the vigilance she has with her own kids today Her take on what the country could actually do to protect kids like her — starting with accountability at the top, not just enforcement at the bottom What safety felt like for the first time in years: sleeping through the night without fear, and being able to just be a kid again The one thing she would have changed about the shelter's rules — and why Dr. Lee explains those rules existed to keep kids safe from recruiters A painful detour: reconnecting with her father, a broken custody bid, and a lie-detector test that left her unable to pursue charges against him Six months on the streets, a friend she brought home before "one of us was going to end up dead," and the social worker who helped her find stable foster care How she describes what happened to her now — grooming, abuse — versus how she saw it as a kid: "That was just our childhood" Her advice to young people in the situation she was once in: "If you want change, you have to be the change" What she'd say to eight-year-old Katey, and her message to anyone watching who's still in it: "We do heal. We do come back, and life is beautiful again." ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
#44
July 21 · 19 min
Episode #41 - Katey (Pt. 1/2)
Dr. Lois Lee reconnects with Katey, who came to Children of the Night as a teenager after surviving family abuse, exploitation by a gang who first posed as protectors, and a psychiatric hospitalization where her trauma response was labeled "promiscuity" instead of understood as a symptom of what she'd survived. In this episode: Katey's life today: 13 years as a CNA, raising five children, and her goal of getting her administrator certification to run a nursing home her own way Being arrested at 15 and hospitalized — and the diagnosis she was given that had nothing to do with what actually happened to her What happened at home before she left: a chaotic, abusive household, a mother in active addiction, and being molested for the first time at age 8 — with no one to turn to afterward Being taken in by men who first offered safety, then exploited her for nine months Arriving at Children of the Night: her first plane ride, her first taste of stability, school, outings, and a roommate she still keeps in touch with How the calm, curious parenting style she learned in the program — "why are you feeling this way, how can I help" instead of punishment — became the way she now parents her own five kids Children of the Night's alumni scholarship program, now being expanded into a permanent endowment for alumni and their children Part 2 coming soon — subscribe so you don't miss it. Content note: This episode discusses child sexual abuse, family violence, and exploitation. Listener discretion advised. ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
#43
July 14 · 33 min
Episode #40 - Roxy's Story (Pt. 2/2)
Part two of Dr. Lois Lee's conversation with Roxy continues where Part 1 left off — from surviving a near-fatal attack to the strength she's built in spite of everything she's been through. In this episode: Growing up trans in a neighborhood where being gay or trans meant her family was targeted too — and how she learned to stand her ground Her take on courage and self-possession as a trans woman, using blunt, unapologetic language about what it takes to live openly A hard truth about abuse: that women can be abusers too, and Dr. Lee's own experience hearing from boys who disclosed being sexually abused by their mothers Roxy's answer to a question every parent of a trans kid should sit with: what do you say to your son when he tells you he's trans? Thank you for walking beside us. If you want to support our mission, visit childrenofthenight.org. Content note: This episode discusses child sexual abuse, family rejection, and violence. Listener discretion advised. ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
#42
July 7 · 34 min
Episode #39 - Roxy's Story (Pt. 1/2)
Dr. Lois Lee sits down with Roxy, whom she first met when Roxie was 14 years old and arriving at Children of the Night. Roxie — now a Miss LA Pride contestant and an advocate with TGI Justice — shares her story: fleeing an abusive home as a young trans girl, finding safety at Children of the Night, and later surviving a violent restraint-heavy group home system that had no idea how to care for a trans kid. In this episode: How Roxy found Children of the Night at 14, and what it felt like to walk through the doors for the first time The abuse she survived at home, and the complicated, ongoing work of processing that relationship with her mother Being cycled through Level 14 group homes and psychiatric holds — physical restraint, forced medication, and being treated as ""the problem"" for being trans rather than being protected Her observation that sexual abuse doesn't only happen to boys by men — women and mothers can be abusers too, and that reality is rarely talked about Her advocacy work today: fundraising for trans services, helping with immigration paperwork, name changes, and housing for LA's trans community A near-fatal attack years later, and how she got through it Part 2 coming soon — subscribe so you don't miss it. Content note: This episode discusses child abuse, institutional mistreatment, and violence. Listener discretion advised. ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
#41
June 30 · 26 min
Episode #38 - David's Story (Pt. 2/2)
In Part 2 of David's story, he reflects on the experiences that shaped his life as a young teenager and the lasting impact they had on his sense of identity, trust, and belonging. Dr. Lois Lee and David discuss a philosophy that has guided Children of the Night for decades: vulnerable young people should not be expected to meet standards that have never been modeled for them. Instead, the responsibility belongs to the program to set the example by treating every child with dignity, consistency, and unwavering commitment. Dr. Lois Lee also shares why Children of the Night has remained privately funded for more than 40 years. Maintaining independence has allowed the organization to make decisions based on what is best for the children they serve and to build the trust that has always been at the heart of the organization's work. ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
#39
June 23 · 30 min
Episode #37 - David's Story (Pt. 1/2)
At 17 years old, David was alone. After enduring childhood sexual abuse and a difficult upbringing, he found himself dropped off on the streets of Southern California. Eventually, he made his way to the Garden Grove Gay and Lesbian Center, where he was connected with Children of the Night and Dr. Lois Lee. In this episode of The Dr. Lois Lee Show, David reflects on surviving exploitation, finding belonging, and discovering possibilities he never imagined. Inspired by Children of the Night students performing Shakespeare, the British Consul sponsored an educational trip to England—a journey that would forever change the way David saw himself and his future. Today, David lives on a small farm in Tennessee with his husband and works as a product manager for a software company. His story is one of resilience, healing, and the extraordinary impact of people who believe in young people when they cannot yet believe in themselves. Topics discussed: • Surviving childhood sexual abuse and exploitation • Finding support through Children of the Night • Why exploitation is rooted in survival and trauma • A life-changing trip to England and Oxford • The importance of feeling accepted and safe • Misconceptions about male prostitution and sexual orientation • Building a life, career, and family after trauma ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
#38
June 16 · 24 min
Episode #36 - Javier (Pt. 2/2)
In Part 2 of Javier's story, he reflects on the extraordinary reality of surviving not one, but two of Los Angeles County's most infamous child abuse scandals. As a child, Javier was among the students impacted by the Mark Berndt case, a nationally known abuse scandal that shocked parents and educators across the country. After speaking up about what happened, he entered the foster care system, where he would later experience additional trauma at MacLaren Hall, the now-closed Los Angeles County receiving center that became the subject of widespread allegations of abuse and neglect. Javier shares how these experiences shaped his life, his understanding of resilience, and his determination to keep moving forward despite the odds. Dr. Lois Lee and Javier also discuss a powerful truth that has guided Children of the Night for nearly five decades: compassion cannot be taught. The adults entrusted with the care of vulnerable children must possess the empathy, humanity, and commitment necessary to help young people heal. The conversation concludes with a deeply personal reflection on the lifelong bond between Javier and Dr. Lois Lee. What began as a rescue became a relationship built on trust, support, and unconditional care—a reminder that healing often starts when one person chooses not to give up on a child. Topics Discussed: • Surviving the Mark Berndt abuse scandal • Experiences within the foster care system • MacLaren Hall and its lasting impact on youth • The importance of believing children when they speak up • Why compassion matters when working with vulnerable youth • Resilience, healing, and rebuilding a life after trauma • The lifelong relationship between Javier and Dr. Lois Lee If you or someone you know is a young person in crisis, Children of the Night provides free services, education support, case management, and emergency assistance to youth across the United States. ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
#37
June 9 · 34 min
Episode #35 - Javier (Pt. 1/2)
Javier was one of the children impacted by the Mark Berndt abuse scandal, one of the most notorious school abuse cases in Los Angeles history. As a third-grade student, he tried to escape what was happening by running away from school. When he spoke up, he says no one believed him. What followed was a childhood spent moving through systems that were supposed to protect him. After entering foster care, Javier was placed at MacLaren Hall, where he experienced further abuse at the hands of staff members. His story could have ended there. Instead, Javier eventually found support through Children of the Night and Dr. Lois Lee, beginning a long journey toward healing and recovery. Today, Javier shares his story not only as a survivor, but as someone who has spent years advocating for children who have experienced abuse and trauma. In this powerful conversation, he reflects on survival, resilience, accountability, and the lifelong impact of being believed. ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
#36
June 2 · 21 min
Episode #34 - Lynne (Pt. 2/2)
In Part 2 of Lynne’s story, retired Homeland Security professional and former Children of the Night outreach worker Lynne shares one of the most heartbreaking cases she encountered while working the streets of Hollywood alongside Dr. Lois Lee. Drawing from her years of outreach experience, Lynne reflects on the realities of meeting vulnerable young people where they were, building trust, and witnessing the devastating impact of exploitation. Among the many cases she encountered, one stands out as the most disturbing: a young girl who had been handed over by her mother to her father, who was exploiting her. Through this candid conversation, Dr. Lois Lee and Lynne discuss the complex dynamics of trafficking, family betrayal, grooming, and the lasting trauma experienced by victims. They also share insights from decades of frontline work helping young people find safety, support, and hope for a different future. This episode provides a sobering look at the realities behind child exploitation and the critical role outreach workers play in identifying victims and connecting them with life-changing resources. ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.

Showing 1–20 of 21 episodes