Episodes
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