Children of the Night Takes Teens Off Streets

Sixteen-year-old Cindy thought she had ditched her problems when she fled Oklahoma for Los Angeles. Instead, she acquired a battered suitcase full of new ones.

Once she arrived, the teen said, she found herself having to work as a prostitute to make money for food and drugs.

Homeless and frightened, Cindy called her mother, who put her in touch with Children of the Night, a nonprofit foundation “dedicated to rescuing America’s children from the ravages of prostitution,” according to Lois Lee, founder and executive director.

The organization takes hundreds of youngsters off the streets each year -- more than 10,000 since its founding in 1979, Lee said. The group’s shelter in Van Nuys sleeps 24. Cindy lives there, as does 15-year-old Faye. Both attend an on-site school, where they are high school juniors.

Faye, who is from New York, said she ran away at 13 because she was being sexually abused by male relatives.

“I couldn’t take it anymore, so I went out on the streets,” she said.

When other girls her age were trying to find their middle school homerooms, she was working as a prostitute and turning over her money to her pimp. The police intervened and contacted Children of the Night. Two years ago, the organization flew her to Los Angeles.

The Holiday Campaign of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund gave $15,000 to Children of the Night this year to buy food for the Van Nuys facility.

The world is tougher than ever for sexually exploited children. “The streets are far more violent,” Lee said. Children of the Night is fighting back, getting word out about its programs using unconventional means. Volunteer truckers carry its posters and outreach cards from truck stop to truck stop, Lee said.

The organization also is raising money for bus-bench ads to be placed where young prostitutes gather. The ads read, “Tired of turning tricks? Pimps don’t care. We do.” They include the organization’s 24-hour hotline number: (800) 551-1300.

Cindy and Faye say they don’t have to look over their shoulders anymore. They don’t worry about being robbed or beaten or overdosing, or where their next meal is coming from.

Now they worry about getting into college.

“I want to study criminal justice,” said Cindy, who dreams of a career in law enforcement.

Faye wants to be a lawyer. Actually, Faye confesses: “I want to be Lois Lee when I grow up.”

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