Hope Refuge offers therapeutic shelter for child sex trafficking survivors

Earlier this year, 22 people were arrested in Santa Barbara County in a statewide effort to crack down on sex trafficking.

However, once the victims are rescued there’s often nowhere for them to go. California lacks facilities to assist survivors during their complicated transition out of abuse.

Now a new 214 acre, short term, nonprofit, residential therapeutic program high in the mountains above Goleta plans to house 24 girls in six-month stretches. Hope Refuge will be the largest facility of its kind in California.