Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 2673

Tonight's special guest is Amanda Blackwood from Thornton, Colorado, a child abuse victim, activist and author, who grew up in a military family and has lived all over the world.  Her father was physically violent (ages 3 to 18), her mother was emotionally and psychologically abusive (ages 0 to 32) and her my brother abused Amanda both sexually and emotionally (age 4 and age 12). "I was sexually abused by my uncle (age 13)," she says. "The childhood abuse started for me at such a young age that I never really knew what life was like without it." Amanda further explains, "I started running away at 15 but the police kept taking me home. Eventually I moved away from home at 18, and my parents bet one another that I would return within three to six months. I did not. Instead, I found myself in much more abusive situations for the next two decades." Now a three-time survivor of human trafficking and seven-time published author, Amanda devotes her time and energy to helping fight human trafficking in several different ways. She sits on the board for one anti-trafficking group in the Denver area and participates in survivor-led leadership for another. Her autobiography, titled 'Custom Justice' will be available worldwide through Amazon on her 10-year anniversary of freedom from trafficking, June 19th, 2021. Amanda says, “I am, at long last, at peace. It's been a long journey to arrive where I am, but having written my full autobiography allowed me to have patience with myself and to understand more about my own reactions to different societal and social triggers. I'm now better able to control my anger and I'm regaining my self-confidence.”