The Dr. Lois Lee Show

In Episode 22 of The Dr. Lois Lee Show, Giselle shares her story of perseverance, health challenges, and the kind of long-term support that changes lives.
Giselle participated in last year’s Children of the Night graduation — a milestone that marked not just academic progress, but years of resilience. Today, she is facing renal failure and is waiting for a kidney donor. During dialysis treatments, Children of the Night flew case managers out to be with her — a reminder that support does not end after a program is completed.
In this conversation, Giselle speaks candidly about what many people misunderstand: recovery from exploitation does not happen in 14 days. Healing is not a short-term intervention. Survivors need consistent guidance, advocacy, and sometimes lifelong support to rebuild stability and confidence.
Despite her health challenges, Giselle is determined to complete her education and pursue work in the medical field — inspired in part by her own experiences navigating the healthcare system.
This episode underscores a core belief of Children of the Night: rescue is the beginning. Long-term care, education, and presence are what sustain hope and create lasting change.
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🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support
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In this episode of The Dr. Lois Lee Show, McKinzie shares how resilience, support, and intentional parenting helped her break a generational cycle of trauma and exploitation.
As a child, McKinzie grew up in a chaotic home where boundaries were blurred and safety was uncertain. She describes how isolation, mental health struggles, and instability shaped her early years. Eventually, running from an unsafe environment led her into further harm.
As a minor, she was located by the FBI and placed in a group home before being connected to Children of the Night. There, she experienced structure, consistent care, and the opportunity to begin understanding her mental health and her worth.
McKinzie reflects on what it meant to feel like a child in a safe environment for the first time.
Later, during a period of addiction, learning she was pregnant became a turning point. She chose sobriety. She built stability. She created a home of her own. Today, she is a devoted mother of two who is determined to parent differently than she was raised.
Dr. Lois Lee also discusses the organization’s monthly parenting program, designed to help mothers protect their children — educating them without overwhelming them, creating safety without secrecy.
McKinzie’s message to policymakers is direct: exploitation begins long before a child reaches the streets. Youth who are exploited are not disposable. They are capable, intelligent, and often desperately seeking a way out. Empathy, early intervention, and sustained support make the difference.
Her story is one of interruption — of choosing a different legacy for her children.
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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.

In Part 2 of Katie’s story, The Dr. Lois Lee Show explores how generational trauma develops — and what it takes to interrupt it.
 
Katie shares her lived experience of exploitation and survival, offering a clear look at how cycles of harm are passed down when children grow up without protection, education, or consistent support. Her story underscores a critical truth: exploitation does not happen in isolation. It is rooted in neglect, abuse, poverty, and the absence of safe adults and stable systems.
 
But just as trauma can repeat across generations, healing can too.
 
Dr. Lois Lee reflects on how early intervention, education, and long-term mentorship change outcomes for exploited and at-risk youth. When children are believed, supported, and given access to learning, their trajectory can shift — not only for them, but for their children as well.
 
How Education and Long-Term Support Make the Difference
 
Since 2017, Children of the Night has no longer operated a residential shelter. Today, the organization focuses on the long-term needs survivors identify as most critical for stability and independence, including:
•Online GED tutoring for youth pushed out of traditional schooling
•Educational scholarships for survivors and, in some cases, their children
•Ongoing advocacy, mentorship, and academic support that restores agency and opportunity
 
Education is more than a credential. It is a pathway out of exploitation, a foundation for independence, and one of the strongest tools for preventing trauma from repeating across generations.
 
Katie’s story is honest, difficult, and deeply important. It is also a testament to what becomes possible when society chooses sustained support over silence.
 
Listener note: This episode discusses sensitive topics, including exploitation and trauma. Please take care while listening.
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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.

Katie’s story shows how trauma can repeat across generations when systems fail to protect children early — and how long-term support can change that outcome.
As a child, Katie experienced serious harm that went unaddressed. Years later, when her own child was hurt, she refused to let silence and fear take over. With advocacy and support from Children of the Night, Katie was able to protect her child and navigate an overwhelming moment that too many families face alone.
Katie first connected with Children of the Night as a teenager after experiencing exploitation and violence. Through education, stability, and continued support — even after setbacks — she found her way forward.
Today, Katie is a mother, a professional, and living proof that healing is possible when care doesn’t end at rescue. This episode explores how unhealed trauma often repeats itself — and how sustained, trauma-informed support can break the cycle for future generations.
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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.

In Memory of Deborah Hardman A hero of the streets—and the daughter who survived the cost. Morgan Hardman speaks candidly with Dr. Lois Lee about a childhood shaped by chaos, trauma, and survival.
Raised in and out of alternative homes, Morgan confronts the painful realities of abuse, blurred boundaries, and learning far too early the difference between “good” and “bad” touch. She shares her journey toward forgiveness—recognizing how the dangerous men in her life mirrored the complexities of her relationship with her mother.
Morgan also reflects on being thrust into public roles at a young age, and the moment Dr. Lois Lee intervened to save her from a pimp attempting to traffic her in another city.
In this powerful conversation, Dr. Lee also introduces the Children of the Night Alumni Committee, which provides scholarships for alumni, their children, and future generations. Raw, unfiltered, and deeply human, this episode is a story of survival, reckoning, and the long road to healing.
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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.

Dr. Lois Lee talks with Teri Weigel about LAPD missing the first opportunity to catch the Hillside Stranglers.
Teri, who lived next door to Kenneth Bianchi (one of the stranglers) shares her mom’s story of witnessing Kenneth Bianchi and his cousin Angleo Buono carry Kimberly Martin’s body, while she’s still alive, through the underground parking.
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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.

Dr. Lois Lee speaks with Morgan Hardman about the life and legacy of her mother, Deborah Hardman—an unsung hero who played a critical role in helping investigators during the Hillside Strangler murders.
Working courageously on the streets, Deborah helped protect young women involved in prostitution and became a trusted source for KNBC News during one of Los Angeles’ most terrifying crime sprees.
In this conversation, Dr. Lee also reflects on her own involvement in the case, including uncovering early clues about how the Hillside Strangler targeted victims and identifying a location connected to the murder of Kimberly Martin, one of the many victims. She recounts a chilling moment when she reported a missing young woman during the murders—only to be dismissed by LAPD with the words, “She’s just a prostitute.”
This episode honors the bravery, persistence, and humanity of women who fought to save lives when others refused to see their worth.
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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.

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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.

Doc came to Children of the Night at 16 years old. A gay teen and survivor of sexual abuse in the 1990s, he had already endured violence, rejection, and instability while trying to survive on the streets of Los Angeles.
Before finding Children of the Night, Doc lived in state-funded shelters where he faced anti-gay violence from other youth. He describes how any misstep—substance use, conflict, or rule-breaking—meant being immediately expelled, with no path back. With nowhere safe to go, he prostituted to survive.
Doc shares a moment that stayed with him for decades: arriving at Children of the Night in the only clothes he owned—soiled after fleeing violence and a hotel plumbing failure. Expecting judgment or dismissal, he instead received new clothing, toiletries, a private room, and a warm shower. Later that night, he found his original clothes freshly laundered and folded on his bed.
That moment represented something he had rarely experienced before: dignity.
In this episode, Doc reflects on how Children of the Night’s privately funded model allowed staff to offer second, third, and fourth chances—meeting youth where they were and showing them they mattered. Now nearing 50, Doc shares that he knows if he reached out today, Children of the Night would still show up for him.
Because once a child enters their care, they are always Dr. Lois Lee’s children.
Episode Highlights
Coming to Children of the Night at 16
Surviving anti-gay violence in state shelters
Why state-funded shelters often allow only one chance
The power of dignity in moments of crisis
How private donations made long-term care possible
Knowing support doesn’t expire—even decades later
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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.

In this episode, Dayjah reflects candidly on how early childhood abuse shaped her adult relationships—and how long it took to recognize the pattern.
When Dr. Lois Lee tells Dayjah, “your picker is broken,” the moment opens a deeper conversation about why people who experience early harm are often drawn to unhealthy relationships again and again. Dayjah shares that both of her children’s fathers were dishonest or worse, and how she now wishes she had listened more closely to the guidance of her parents.
Today, Dayjah is taking a break from dating. As she explains, many of the men she has encountered have been dishonest, unfaithful, or abusive—and she recognizes that healing must come before choosing differently.
Dr. Lois Lee emphasizes that early abuse impacts adult decision-making in profound ways, and that changing these patterns requires time, self-reflection, and long-term healing. This episode offers an honest, relatable discussion about trauma, boundaries, and the work it takes to build healthier futures.
Episode Highlights
“Your picker is broken” — and what that really means
How early abuse influences adult relationship choices
Reflecting on parental guidance and missed warnings
Choosing to pause dating to focus on healing
Why breaking patterns takes years, not quick fixes
How self-awareness is the first step toward change
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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.