SACRAMENTO, Calif. — "For a trafficker… they know what to look for, they want to find the broken person.”
Janette Diaz is a survivor of human trafficking. She grew up in Sacramento and remembers being abused at a young age. She was forced into foster care after being taken from her mother.
"I was raped and molested in almost every foster home that they had put me in, so it caused me at the age of 12 to say, ‘Forget this, I'm going to go run away and I'm going to find my mom.’ Not knowing that it will turn into something deeper when I find her,” said Diaz.
She found her mom on Stockton Boulevard in South Sacramento. She says her mother slowly began grooming her to become a prostitute after they reunited. The unimaginable came soon after.
“My mom was selling me for sex for men. She was actively force feeding me methamphetamine,” she said.
She says she thought she was helping her mother, but she knew something was wrong even though other people treated her the same way before and nobody took it seriously.
Sacramento County is a known hot spot for sex trafficking due to the freeway interchange. Sex trafficking has also increased in the county over the last five years, according to the sheriff’s office.
Dr. Ron Chambers is the medical director of Dignity Health’s Medical Safe Haven Clinic in South Sacramento. The clinic helps human trafficking victims with a wide range of medical care. Chambers says most of his patients are young girls, born and raised in the Sacramento region.
"I think a lot of people kind of have the perception that it's going to be somebody coming in from overseas or from another area. It's much more insidious,” said Chambers.
He says familial trafficking largely goes unrecognized, too.
"The mom did it because she needs drug money, so she sells her daughter to the guy across the hall or down the street or in the trunk of the car driving around town,” he said.
Those are the kinds of familial trafficking situations Chambers sees daily.
Court records show Diaz’s mom pleaded guilty in 2004 to selling her for sex at just 13 years old. Diaz went to juvenile hall and was labeled a prostitute.
"My whole life I was labeled as a prostitute instead of a survivor or a victim,” she said.
Diaz says being forcibly fed methamphetamine led to addiction, which caused her to be trafficked again until she was 18 years old.
Everything changed when she was thrown down the stairs by her trafficker. She was hospitalized and found out she was pregnant.
Diaz says her daughter was her escape from being trafficked and it led her to the Medical Safe Haven Clinic where she met Chambers.
Studies show up to 88% of trafficking victims have been in contact with a medical provider at some point while being trafficked but not all doctors are trained to see the signs.
“There's nothing in medical education telling us to talk to our patients about trafficking,” said Chambers. “If we have this incredibly powerful issue and we have this opportunity, why aren't we doing something about it?”
Chambers and his team at Dignity Health launched Medical Safe Haven Clinic at Methodist Hospital in Sacramento in 2016. The clinic doesn’t just connect human trafficking survivors with community resources; they are the resource.
“It's no barrier. We never say no,” said Jennifer Cox, Medical Safe Haven systems director.
She says the clinic has a direct line victims can call and a separate entrance for them instead of sitting in the ER for hours.
“They've been judged. There's stigma associated with how they might enter the healthcare space. Maybe how they're dressed, how they look, how they might act. Remember, they're just being taken off the streets,” said Cox.
When Diaz arrived at the clinic, she felt like there was someone out there who cared for the first time.
“Dr. Chambers… he’s got a way of working with people. He has a way of just making people feel comfortable,” she said.
She’s been one of his patients for more than a decade. At Medical Safe Haven Clinics, survivors who qualify are met with a trained advocate who helps them with more than just appointments, prescriptions and labs. They get help finding stability, giving them back control of their own lives.
"It's not about one appointment with the doctor. It’s about an ongoing relationship built with these doctors where they become like family and they become trusted, and they come back in and get well,” said Cox.
The Medical Safe Haven program also requires all doctors in training to complete in-depth human trafficking training as part of their curriculum so they don’t miss the signs.
For Diaz, the program gave her power for the first time in her life.
"There are so many years I wasn't able to respect myself and now I'm calling shots from my own body. I have control and I've never had control like that,” said Diaz.
She’s still removing old wounds like her brandings. Through new tattoo removal machines, Medical Safe Haven is helping survivors with another step in recovery.
Diaz says it feels good to see her own hands again. She’s focused on being a mom while doing things she thought never would be possible like serving on an advisory board helping human trafficking survivors.
Medical Safe Haven has five clinics throughout California. If you or someone you know needs help, you can contact Methodist Hospital, Medical Safe Haven or the National Human Trafficking Hotline to get connected to resources in the community.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SUPPORT RESOURCES:
- National Domestic Violence Hotline (24/7)
- Voice: (800) 799-7233
- National Human Trafficking Hotline
- Voice: (888) 373-7888
- National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN)
- Voice: (800) 656-HOPE (4673)
- California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA)
- W.E.A.V.E.: Women Escaping a Violent Environment 1-866-920-2952
- RAINN: Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network
- NSVRC: National Sexual Violence Resource Center
- National Sexual Abuse Hotline 1-800-656-HOPE 1-800-656-4673
- Methodist Hospital, Medical Safe Haven
WATCH MORE ON ABC10: 3 teens rescued, multiple arrested in human trafficking, prostitution operation