Episodes
Nov 11, 2025
Nov 11, 2025
21 min
When Victoria arrived at the Children of the Night home at just 13 years old, she stood out — not for what she’d been through, but for how brilliant she was. She quickly became the highest-testing student the program had ever seen, even as she navigated the trauma of her past.In this episode, Victoria reflects on her time living at the Children of the Night home, where she celebrated holidays for the first time, went on outings to Disneyland and baseball games, and rediscovered what it meant to be a child.Dr. Lois Lee and Victoria discuss how education, structure, and compassion can rewrite a child’s story — and how Children of the Night continues to stand by survivors long after they turn 18, even helping Victoria and her children attend college.
Follow & Support:
🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org
📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenightinc
🕊️ X/Twitter: @COTNight
👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
Nov 4, 2025
Nov 4, 2025
26 min
A teenage night out turns into a nightmare when 15-year-old Nancy is trafficked hundreds of miles from home. Her story reveals how easily teenage rebellion and family conflict can be exploited — and how our justice system still fails to see children as victims.
Nancy was just a teenager — curious, restless, and searching for independence — when a party with older guys changed her life forever. Instead of coming home late, she was shipped to Southern California against her will and forced into the sex trade.
Her story exposes the vulnerabilities traffickers prey on: adolescent defiance, loneliness, and the longing to be seen. It also sheds light on how relentless pimps are, how other women in “the life” can become violent enforcers, and how police often misidentify exploited children as criminals instead of victims.
Through her brave and candid testimony, Nancy reminds us that what looks like “teenage mischief” can mask deep pain — and that every child deserves to be treated as one.
Follow & Support:
🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org
📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenightinc
🕊️ X/Twitter: @COTNight
👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
Oct 28, 2025
Oct 28, 2025
32 min
This is Part 2 of Erika’s inspiring two-part story.
After surviving years of exploitation, Erika reflects on her time at the Children of the Night shelter home (1992–2017) — and how the love, structure, and care she received there changed the course of her life.
Dr. Lois Lee explains what makes the Children of the Night program different from others: it doesn’t just remove youth from danger — it rebuilds the whole child. Through compassion, education, trust, and structure, the program helps restore dignity and a sense of belonging.
Erika shares how that foundation gave her confidence, guided her toward college, and helped her become the mother, professional, and advocate she is today.
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Highlights:
How caring for the whole child changes outcomes
Why love and structure are essential to healing
The importance of freedom, trust, and dignity in recovery
The ongoing case management and support beyond age 18
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About Erika Today:
Now a mother of two teenagers, Erika is on track to become an account manager and is pursuing her calling through ministry, a podcast, and a forthcoming book — living proof that courage and compassion can transform lives.
Follow & Support:
🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org
📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenightinc
🕊️ X/Twitter: @COTNight
👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
Oct 21, 2025
Oct 21, 2025
28 min
This is Part 1 of Erika’s powerful two-part story.
At just 14 years old, Erika was one of nearly 100 girls pulled from the system and called by the FBI to help locate two men who had exploited them. Terrified and unsure who to trust, she nearly lied to protect herself — but with her mother watching, she found the courage to tell the truth.
In this first part, Erika shares how she was brought into “the life” by another girl, trapped by a pimp, and misled by federal agents who told her she was entering witness protection. Instead, they brought her to Children of the Night, where she found safety, compassion, and the foundation to begin healing.
Her testimony became a turning point — both in the case and in her own life.
Highlights:
Testifying as a minor alongside nearly 100 other girls
Being misled by the FBI and finding refuge at Children of the Night
What safety and trust meant inside the COTN shelter home
How telling the truth became the first step toward freedom
About Erika Today:
Now a mother of two teenagers, Erika is on track to become an account manager and is pursuing her calling through ministry, a podcast, and a forthcoming book — living proof that courage and compassion can transform lives.
Follow & Support:
🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org
📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenightinc
🕊️ X/Twitter: @COTNight
👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
Oct 14, 2025
Oct 14, 2025
34 min
Dr. Lois Lee speaks with Juli, a Children of the Night alumna whose story spans child trafficking, addiction, motherhood, and redemption — a powerful portrait of survival and purpose.
At just twelve years old, Juli fled abuse and hitchhiked down California’s I-5 — a desperate act that led her to the doors of Children of the Night. Over the years, she returned again and again: as a teenager seeking safety, and later as a young adult aging out of foster care. Each time, Children of the Night and Dr. Lee welcomed her home.
In this moving episode, Dr. Lois Lee and Juli explore the cycles of exploitation, resilience, and renewal that define so many survivor stories. Juli opens up about teen pregnancy, addiction, and the long road to sobriety — and how education became her path to empowerment. With a degree in criminal justice, she went on to work with the Portland Police Bureau’s Domestic Violence and Trafficking Team, supporting others once trapped by the same systems. Today, she continues her healing work as a therapeutic masseuse.
Listeners will gain insight into the realities of child exploitation, the failures of foster care, and the profound capacity of survivors to rebuild their lives.
Guest Bio
Juli is a survivor, mother, and advocate who first came to Children of the Night at age twelve. After earning her degree in criminal justice, she worked alongside the Portland Police Bureau’s Domestic Violence and Trafficking Team and continues to serve others as a therapeutic masseuse.
Follow & Support:
🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org
📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenightinc
🕊️ X/Twitter: @COTNight
👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
Oct 1, 2025
Oct 1, 2025
30 min
Dr. Lois Lee speaks with Michele about the court giving Lois custody of Michele and how that changed their lives.
Follow & Support:
🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org
📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenightinc
🕊️ X/Twitter: @COTNight
👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.
Meet Dr. Lois Lee
Dr. Lois Lee is a trailblazer. With a PhD in Sociology & Anthropology, and a Juris Doctor (Law), she has dedicated her life to helping children for whom social systems have failed. She is founder & president of Children of the Night, the first comprehensive sex-trafficking program in North America.
Long before many understood what “sex trafficking” even meant in modern policy, Dr. Lee was documenting how pimps manipulated vulnerable young people, fighting for their rights in court, pulling children off the streets, and offering safe haven, education, and a path to adulthood.
Her work has trained law enforcement, shaped public policy, and changed attitudes: treating prostituted children as victims, not criminals.
What The Dr. Lois Lee Show Offers
- Survivor stories that hold both heartbreak and hope, showing the realities of non-fiction.
- Conversations with experts—law enforcement, healthcare, social work, education—on what works, what fails, and what needs to change.
- Deep dives into systems: laws, public policy, institutional practices that affect trafficked youth.
- Reflections from Dr. Lee’s decades of frontline work—cases, wins, setbacks, and lessons learned.
Dr. Lois Lee: History & Impact
Early Days & Drop-in Center (1979–1989):
While Dr. Lee was a graduate student, she began research into prostitution in Los Angeles. She discovered alarming numbers of minors, many with fake IDs, pushed into prostitution and often invisible to social services. In response, in 1979-81, she opened her home to more than 250 youth. Then in 1981, the first drop-in center was founded in Hollywood to offer food, clothing, showers, referrals, identification, rest—basic human needs that could make the difference between life and death.
Street Outreach & National Hotlines:
Recognizing that many children never step into formal systems, Children of the Night built street teams to find and support kids where they are—on sidewalks, motels, truck stops—and a 24-hour nationwide hotline so children could reach help any time, day or night.
Shelter Home (1992-2017):
For 25 years, the organization operated a residential shelter home in Van Nuys, California, providing housing, schooling, therapeutic care, and a stable environment for children aged 11-17 who had been prostituted. Over 3,000 young people lived in the home during that time, benefitting not just from shelter but education, life skills, recreation, counseling—wholeness.
Evolving Laws & Culture:
Thanks in part to Dr. Lee’s work, laws have changed. Children who were prostituted are now more often legally recognized as victims rather than criminals; juvenile justice systems have adapted; social services are more attentive. Yet many challenges remain: stigma, system gaps, and ever-changing dangers, especially online.
Scale of Rescue & Success:
Since its founding, Children of the Night has helped rescue over 17,000 American children from prostitution, maintaining a 70–80% success rate in its programs. Hundreds of graduates have gone on to college and many are now gainfully employed in a variety of roles—teachers, social workers, public servants, entrepreneurs—people contributing back.
Why This Matters
Because every child deserves to be safe.
Because exploitation doesn’t only happen “somewhere else”—it happens in our communities, under the radar, in homes, online, in schools.
Because systems are imperfect, but with clarity, compassion, and courage, they can do better.
And because Dr. Lois Lee’s story shows us what’s possible when we refuse to look away.
Join the Fight
If you believe in dignity, in justice, in the possibility of healing, this podcast is your invitation to learn, to act, to be part of something bigger. Listen in. Share the stories. Raise your voice. It’s time to stand with children, not just for them.
👉 Follow & support the mission:
🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org
📲 Instagram: @childrenofthenightinc
📘 Facebook: Children of the Night
🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN
❤️ Donate: childrenofthenight.org/donate