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Who We Are
Forgotten Children, Inc. (FCI) is located in the heart of the inner city; FCI serves not only the community of Lynwood, but parts of the city of Compton. The main artery for both communities is Long Beach Boulevard, which is bordered by Imperial Highway and Rosecrans Boulevard. Sandwiched between these boulevards is a thriving business that functions only at night—Street Prostitution. This business is ran mainly by entrepreneurs known as “pimps,” but in some cases, the women are independents. Regardless, the prostitutes are still required to pay “tax” to the gangs that run the neighborhood.
It has been determined that most of the women and children (98%) who become street prostitutes have attended Sunday School or other religious forms of education sometime during their early childhood. They have a fear that church is not a safe place for them since many were molested in a “Christian home” or by a “Christian man.” Another report prepared by M. H. Silbert and A. M. Pines indicates, “The average age of entry into prostitution is 13 years.” Another researcher, Weisberg, believes the age to be closer to 14 years. Regardless of the starting years, they both believe that these 13 and 14 year old girls were “recruited or coerced into prostitution.” In one study, it was determined by the researcher that 75% of the women in street prostitution had attempted suicide. Furthermore, according to Susan Kay Hunter, “15% of all completed suicides reported by hospitals” were street prostitutes.
This staggering number is of great concern to FCI, and as such, the staff has determined there is a need for action, an attempt to rescue the young women of Lynwood/Compton. Now is the time to remember those who are considered ‘throw-a-way or, no humans involved’ and to begin to show someone does love them for who they are, not what they are.
In order to accomplish this vision FCI is in the process of developing a new ministry, which will focus on child prostitutes.
Vision Statement
The aspiration of Forgotten Children, Inc. is to reach out to the ‘throw away’ child prostitutes of the inner city. These are the individuals who, through a myriad set of circumstances, find themselves selling their bodies many times over night after night to faceless, nameless men.
Our vision includes a street ministry that will offer a warm beverage, water, food, a hug and a prayer. It is determined this street ministry will expand to a coffee house—offering a safe retreat—that will also provide showers and a place to rest. There will be an effort to remove these women from the streets, providing drug rehabilitation, as well as preparing them to return to society as contributing adults. Since over two-thirds of the women have children, there will be a program advocate established to assist them to provide for their families and, where necessary, assist them in regaining custody of their children that have been placed in foster care. As Forgotten Children, Inc. grows, there will be an opportunity to provide living quarters for the women and their children. This will also provide an opportunity to assist run-a-way- child prostitutes to return home, or at the very least, find them a safe haven. Finally, this vision has no boundaries; it will be extended to all areas of the inner city and beyond.
Mission Statement
Forgotten Children, Inc. is a ministry of love and compassion for the women and children who are victimized through prostitution and abuse. We are a ministry that cares for the community and a burden for streetwalking prostitutes.
Core Values
Our core values are based on biblical principles of faith, which are to:
Faithfully stay true to our charge to go out into all peoples to spread the gospel. Matthew 28: 19-20
Ascribe to the principles that ALL are saved by grace no one is excluded. Ephesians 2:5
Install a sense of God’s love and presents, even on the streets. Deuteronomy 31:6, 8
Trust the love of Jesus to bring about a change in the women’s lives (and ours). 1 Samuel 10:6
Hold onto the biblical promises that salvation is for all. Luke 3:6
Sources:
Take from Mary Magdalene Project home page: Research on Street Prostitution – Prostitution Overview, http://www.mmp.org/background/research.php
Take from fact sheet developed by Melissa Farley PhD. Information provided from M. H. Silbert and A. M. Pines, 1982, Victimization of street prostitutes, Victimology: An International Journal, 7:122—133) and D. Kelly Weisberg, 1985, Children of the Night: A Study of Adolescent Prostitution, Lexington, Mass, Toronto. http://www.prostitutionresearch.com
Take from Prostitution: Factsheet on Human Rights Violations by Melissa Farley PhD. (Letter from Susan Kay Hunter, Council for Prostitution Alternatives, Jan 6, 1993, cited by Phyllis Chesler in A Woman’s Right to Self-Defense: the case of Aileen Carol Wuornos, in Patriarchy: Notes of an Expert Witness, 1994, Common Courage Press, Monroe, Maine. http://www.prostitutionresearch.com
Take from Prostitution: Factsheet on Human Rights Violations by Melissa Farley PhD., written by Adele Weiner, Understanding the Social Needs of Streetwalking Prostitutes, 1996, Social Work, 97-106. http://www.prostitutionresearch.com
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