Episode #56 - Lang Part 2/3

Andrew was 14 years old when he first came to Children of the Night in 2004. In this episode, he sits down with Dr. Lois Lee more than two decades later — now a community college student — and tells her how he got there. Born to parents cycling in and out of prison, Andrew was in foster homes and group placements by age five. At 11, he went to live with his mother, fresh out on parole — until a violent night in a hospital parking lot sent him walking, then onto a bus that landed him in Hollywood. He was 12 years old, alone on Santa Monica Boulevard, when the street found him. For the next 18 to 21 months, he survived the way too many children do. Children of the Night gave him what he'd never had: routine, responsibility, and a family. He remembers the kitchen, yoga on the deck, writing a song called "Throw Me a Rose" — and a Christmas trip to Disneyland where the fake snow falling after the fireworks made him cry, because it was the first time his heart opened up to softness again. Andrew also delivers a heartfelt apology to the staff he hurt as a teenager, opens up about his sister, who is still fighting her own battle, and hears for the first time about the Children of the Night scholarship endowment — built for alumni like him, their children, and their children's children. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Subscribe so you don't miss Part 2. Support the mission: childrenofthenight.org

In Part 3 of this three-part series, Lang Martinez talks about the day his mother was dying and all he cared about was $40. He explains what his mother told him that day, the cruel thing he said before he walked out, and the date she died, which turned out to be the same date he surrendered to recovery eight years later. Lang also talks about how drugs became a way to fit in as a teenager, why it was easier to bury what happened to him than to tell his parents, and how his view of his father has changed. He shares messages for kids, parents, schools, politicians and the parents of children lost to drugs. He also tells Dr. Lois Lee how he met his wife, how he got counseling in the middle of a hard moment, and why he calls recovery daily work. His message to every child: “Stay stronger than your silence.” Subscribe so you don’t miss the next episode. Hashtags: #TheDrLoisLeeShow #SurvivorStory #HealingJourney #BreakTheSilence

In Part 2 of this three-part series, Lang Martinez picks up where he left off. He talks about meeting another survivor from the 1980s Hollywood club scene, and about the guilt he carried for years over what he knew as a teenager. He and Dr. Lois Lee also discuss how many clubs were targeting boys back then, and why traditional agencies weren’t there for survivors like them. Lang shares his views on drug recovery, treatment first and accountability. He explains why he believes prison was part of his own recovery, and why he thinks women in encampments are left out of the conversation. He also talks about speaking in schools, and about the trailer he built from his story, “Nobody Knows But Me,” and the song “Stronger Than My Silence,” which was used with the artist’s permission. He closes with his family: his father, who came to his wedding after more than 30 years, and the day he saw his mother’s illness and cared only about money. “My journey taught me that I am stronger than my silence.” Part 3 is coming soon. Subscribe so you don’t miss it. Hashtags: #TheDrLoisLeeShow #SurvivorStory #HealingJourney #BreakTheSilence

Lang Martinez should have been a client of Dr. Lois Lee’s when he was a teenage boy. He didn’t call her until decades later, and when he did, he was crying. Her answer was simple: “I know. I believe you.” In Part 1 of this three-part series, Lang talks about growing up in a loving family, surviving abuse at 17 in one of Hollywood’s all-ages nightclubs, and the years of addiction and homelessness that followed. He also shares how a stranger’s kindness at a recovery convention, a promise he made to God, and a new purpose as an advocate turned his life around. Lang explains why he wants to stand in front of children and help keep what happened to him from happening to them. Dr. Lois also shares her own history confronting the clubs that exploited kids. Part 2 is coming soon. Subscribe so you don’t miss it. Hashtags: #TheDrLoisLeeShow #SurvivorStory #HealingJourney #BreakTheSilence

Diamond was just a little girl when she was pulled into the life — robbed at gunpoint, thrown from a car, and left not knowing where she was. In this episode, she tells Dr. Lois Lee how Children of the Night found her, what shelter life was really like, and how she rebuilt: graduating pharmacy technician school, working in memory care, and raising three kids. Dr. Lois Lee — who has rescued over 17,000 children from sex trafficking — breaks down a distinction most people get wrong: the difference between sex trafficking and prostitution, and why the words we use matter for the kids still out there. If this story moved you, subscribe and share. Every view helps a donor see what their gift made possible. Learn more about Children of the Night: https://www.childrenofthenight.org #TheDrLoisLeeShow #SurvivorStory #ChildTrafficking #EndHumanTrafficking

After Hurricane Katrina, Camrie's family left New Orleans for San Diego, where they were homeless for about seven years. At school, she was labeled with ADD and learning disabilities and moved from program to program. At 13, after a fight with her mother, she was kicked out and spent the night in a park, where a man raped her on a bench. She describes being recruited by a pimp, being returned home after missing-person reports, and testifying against him in court. Later, while on probation, she ran away to Maryland to meet a man she had met online, and she was exploited there too. A social worker brought her to the Children of the Night home. She stayed for two years, did regular schoolwork outside of special ed, and never returned to the streets. Camrie talks with Dr. Lois Lee about: How her trauma was misdiagnosed as a learning disability Childhood abuse and how it made her more vulnerable to exploitation Finishing high school, going to college, and raising two daughters Working in health care and planning to finish her degree in health administration What schools, lawmakers, and everyday people could do differently for kids like her. ⸻ 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 the final part of her three-part series, Heidi tells Dr. Lois Lee about the five years that followed her time at Children of the Night. She moved to Las Vegas with a man who agreed to "work alongside" her, and she ended up back in prostitution while he took her money, isolated her from family, and grew more violent. With her mother's help, she made a plan to leave. After a night she believed would be her last, a friend came for her in her pajamas, and her mom arrived with a U-Haul to bring Heidi and her son home. Heidi describes starting over in Portland and Seattle, an eviction, and the long work of rebuilding. Today she is a specialty scheduler and project coordinator, and her son is 23. Dr. Lee offers to cover school, clear Heidi's arrest record, and pay for EMDR therapy. She also explains why the Children of the Night shelter closed after the 2018 law change and how the organization now serves 500 young adults a year. The episode closes with Heidi's message to parents, and to any young woman who is on a plane right now to meet someone like the man who found her. ⸻ 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.

Heidi was 15 when she was trafficked, and in Part 2 of her story she tells Dr. Lois Lee what it took to get out and what came after. She describes how completely her trafficker controlled her, and how she still believed he loved her even as federal agents closed in. When investigators finally reached her, she stayed silent through a ten-hour interview, having been taught never to talk to police. A detective who understood the life eventually earned her trust, and she agreed to testify about how traffickers operate. Heidi speaks openly about the shame that surrounded her family and friendships, and about the road back. She arrived at Children of the Night to kindness, school, and girls who had lived the same thing, and it was her peers who first told her he never loved her. For the first time, she didn't feel alone. Dr. Lee also shares what it took in the early days to convince law enforcement that these were children. Heidi carries her story through leaving the shelter, earning her GED, and becoming a young mother, and it ends as she heads back toward the life, setting up Part 3. ⸻ 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 reunites with a survivor she first met in the summer of 1999, when the survivor testified in the federal trial against the man who trafficked her. In this first episode of a three-part series, Heidi describes being recruited at 14 by a pimp who approached her at a bus stop in Portland, Oregon, and spent a year grooming her over the phone before convincing her to run away and fly to Miami. There, she was isolated, forced to dress and perform for buyers, and sent out onto the track during Super Bowl season alongside another trafficked teenager. She recounts repeated arrests, violence at the hands of both her trafficker and buyers, and the circumstances that eventually led to a federal investigation — sparked by her mother's suspicion. Part 2 continues the story. ⸻ 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.

Brittany was 17 and living with her mom in Mississippi when her older sister bought her a one-way ticket to Las Vegas, hoping to get her away from a bad home situation. Living under her sister's roof came with rules Brittany resented — and that friction set the stage for what happened next. In the parking lot of her sister's apartment complex, Brittany met a man she suspected was a pimp before he ever said so. What started as a flirtation turned into Brittany orchestrating her own ""kidnapping"" so she could leave her sister's house — against the warnings of a friend who saw the danger clearly. On her very first night out, Brittany was sent with a more experienced girl to meet a "client" who turned out to be undercover Las Vegas Vice. Brittany's intuition kicked in early — she noticed unusually heavy police presence around the strip — but her trafficker's threats kept her silent. She and the other girl used a coded signal ("I don't feel good") to try to pull away from the situation before the officer revealed his badge in a casino elevator lobby. Brittany was taken in for questioning, slipped up by signing her real name on a form, and was ultimately placed in juvenile hall for what became two months while authorities built a case against her trafficker. A juvenile hall guard told her she'd be back — a comment Brittany has never forgotten. In court, a public defender advocated for Brittany to be sent to Children of the Night rather than a juvenile detention facility, describing her as naive rather than a "bad kid." Brittany went on to testify against her trafficker and described the Las Vegas Vice detectives — the same officers who ran the sting — as her "guardian angels," crediting them and the public defender with seeing her innocence when others hadn't. Brittany lived at the Children of the Night shelter in 2002–2003, where she talks about the school program, a memorable classroom visit from Traci Lords, and the friendships she formed with other girls in the home. She left the program at 18, just short of the credits needed for her diploma, and reflects on that choice as one of her biggest regrets — though she's now working with Children of the Night to finish her diploma as an adult. Now a mother herself, Brittany speaks about how her experience shaped her parenting — sometimes in ways she's still working through — and closes with a message about protecting kids from predators, wherever they may come from, and a thank-you to the Las Vegas Vice unit that changed the course of her life. ⸻ 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.