The staff at Breaking the Chains in Fresno will soon be welcomed into their new home at the soon-to-open City Center on Dakota Avenue. Photo contributed

Breaking the Chains (BTC) Fresno will soon open their third Valley location inside the Fresno Mission’s City Center, a project currently finalizing construction and expected to open starting later this year.

Founder and CEO of BTC Debra Rush said the center’s $30 million location will house a safe drop-in shelter for children, as well as space to provide classes, workshops, life-skill opportunities and counseling services for victims of human trafficking and their families.

Rush said the center hopes to be fully operational by June. The organization will continue to operate out of its location in Parlier — which serves the South Valley region all the way down to Los Angeles. They also operate a second undisclosed location intended to provide a safe space for victims away from potential abusers and other outside threats and influences.

“Unfortunately, the pandemic left so much of our community vulnerable,” Rush said, adding that through economic vulnerability and limited at-home supervision for children, BTC’s clientele has increased 47% since the start of the pandemic.

Fresno County Department of Social Services contracts with BTC for human trafficking victims that have been identified to either have already been impacted by human trafficking or are at high risk.

“One of the issues that we’ve seen very quickly,” Rush said, “was that there has not been a safe space for these kids, specifically the ones impacted by human trafficking, where they can come and be sheltered without being in a population of other children.”

She added that child victims of human trafficking often unintentionally place other children at risk due to the trauma they experienced.

“It’s not their fault, but they have a lot of pain and a lot of trauma and a lot of acquired negative behavior patterns,” she said. “What it ends up doing is creating more victims.

She said often, traffickers use their existing victims to “recruit” more potential victims.

The City Center location for BTC will provide an emergency drop-in shelter for children, the first of its kind in the Central Valley. The drop-in center will only be accessible to victims and staff members.

Other services the center provides include classes and workshops. Counseling services will be available in group settings.

Rush said BTC works with an average of 100 active cases, adding new cases daily in programs aimed at rehabilitating victims and reintegrating them into society.

“Social, emotional, physical and financial benchmarks are created,” Rush said about the program. “These goal sets are created with the participants alongside the case coordinators they’re assigned, so they move through those based on the goals that they have set.”

For victims, Rush said the program averages about six months, but added that there is no limit on how long they can receive assistance from BTC.

“We have participants who have been with us for nine years,” Rush said. “Not necessarily living with us but they’re part of Breaking the Chains.”

Often these individuals lead support groups and assist victims with struggles; they can also continue to access BTC’s services and resources.

“The level of trauma that individuals impacted by human trafficking experience result in a life-long healing journey,” Rush said.