Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 1873

Tonight's special guest is Patricia A. McKnight from Breese, Illinois, a small town east of St Louis. Trish, a returning NAASCA family member, is a survivor who became a voice and an advocate, using several therapists to recover and publishing her own story, "My Justice," the true story of her struggle to overcome the cruelty of her childhood. Today, she is NAASCA's Mid-West Regional Ambassador and President of the newly chartered Butterfly Dreams Alliance, a nonprofit volunteer organization empowering families to rebuild and heal, while encouraging our youth in our new Butterfly Dreams Youth Partners group. Tonight Trish is bringing a friend and team-member she's introducing to her NAASCA family, Lauren Stoelze, a film/documentary graduate student at Southern Illinois University who's working on her Master of Fine Arts. The man who assaulted Trish, her stepfather, continued his torture for twelve long years. "I finally broke free to claim a life of my own and provide a home where my children could feel safe," Trish says. Trish has focused many years of research to speak facts & stats that have updated Illinois Statute of Limitations on Child Trafficking, and educated professionals on many levels with the awareness of Beginning Steps of Human Trafficking in Rural America. She says, "I now share my voice to help others understand they too can break free and claim their own happiness in life, feel safe, and finally feel true freedom."