The STOPLight

Saving young lives

"It’s a real thrill to know how much we’ve helped these girls," says Frank Barnaba, "and how meaningful their lives have become." He can think of dozens of cases in which the lives of frightened, exploited young girls have been turned around. Today, he knows these former prostitutes as self-assured women; some married with children of their own, some in business ventures, and still others back in school.

Barnaba, a national vice president of sales for Culligan, is nationally known as the founder of Paul & Lisa, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention of child sexual abuse. Founded in 1980, Paul & Lisa got its name from St. Paul’s Church, which put up the seed money to get it started, and from Lisa, a teenage prostitute whose tragic story and untimely death led Barnaba to vow he would do whatever he could to protect other children from Lisa’s fate. The organization has reached tens of thousands with its preventative education programs, and has succeeded in getting dozens of girls — victims of the sex industry off the streets. The Paul & Lisa Program is four-fold, including preventative education, streetwork outreach, counseling/referral, and rehabilitation.

Even though Paul & Lisa grew out of Baranba’s solo streetwork with prostitutes in New York City, he is not interested in glorifying himself. In fact, Barnaba rarely says "I" when speaking of Paul & Lisa’s successes. He gives credit to the organization’s professional staff and volunteers, several of whom have survived sexual exploitation themselves and have decided, like Barnaba, to work for change. The Paul & Lisa staff has come together around the motto, "Prevention through education, rehabilitation through caring," precisely because they do care about abused children. They realize the tragic stories of these kids could be stories of their own children or grandchildren, or of other kids they know and love. They are committed to breaking the cycle of exploitation which threatens all children with its violence.

The bulk of the work carried out by Paul & Lisa staff is in the area of preventative education. They provide education programs and counseling for the prevention of sexual exploitation. Their primary concerns are to raise public consciousness about exploited children, and to alert young people to the dangers they may face. They hope to empower youth to make healthy lifestyle choices, to clarify the dangers of running away, as well as the role of drugs in sexual exploitation. They offer age-appropriate education programs to students and teachers, religious and civic organizations, law enforcement officials, and to groups of concerned individuals. "Highly effective" is how they rate their preventative program, "in terms of the number of children who, after participating in the program, have indicated that they would pursue responsible means of solving problems rather than running away."

The program includes a slide presentation designed to show audiences who these exploited children are, the horror of their lives on the streets, and the degradation they have to face on a daily basis. The slides were shot by Barnaba and other staff as they were out "working the streets." The stark reality they show has been helpful in combating or dispelling many of the myths that surround prostitution. "What we are trying to say to the boys who are watching," says Barnaba, "is that what you see isn’t Pretty Women. These are kids who have been either abused at home or been thrown away; that you are actually a molester when you go out there and go after these girls." They try to awaken all people to the fact that these girls are not perpetrators of crime, but are the victims of years and years of crime being perpetuated against them both by the pimps and by the johns. The presentation makes clear that every john who uses one of these girls is a child molester, continuing the cycle of the girls’ exploitation and abuse.

In addition to its preventative education programs, Paul & Lisa is actively engaged in outreach and rehabilitation efforts. The focus here is to get girls to come off the streets and to begin the long process of helping them to adjust to life away from the sex industry. This is a long and arduous struggle. Convincing the kids takes time and the rehabilitation costs money. It takes Paul & Lisa an average of 1.9 years to get a girl to come off the streets, and it costs up to $25,000 the first year to keep her off. Once off the streets, Paul & Lisa provide the girls with temporary shelter and help them bridge the gap between prostitution and a productive life.

When the Paul & Lisa Program first began, Barnaba worked mostly with girls he met randomly on the streets. Over time, the organization has shifted to working mainly with kids who have been referred to them by police departments, social workers, or their friends. They try to gain the trust and confidence of the girls. Establishing trust is a necessary first step. " I try to gain the kids’ confidence," Barnaba says, "to boost their self-worth. But it’s up to them. If they want to get off the street, we can help." Once that trust is established, Paul & Lisa workers can help the children understand that opportunities for rehabilitation do exist and that they have the potential to redirect their lives. But the girls need continuing care and moral support to prevent regression. Sometimes a girl will have to come off the streets two, three, or even four times before she is finally out of prostitution. The children, having seen themselves exploited by others day after day, are always fearful and suspicious.

Once a child is off the streets, then Paul & Usa staff can begin to teach her life skills. Rehabilitation can include everything from driving a car or balancing a checkbook, to building self-esteem or getting into therapy. At this stage, Paul & Lisa becomes the girls’ surrogate family. Just as in a family, the organization provides the girls with rules, schedules and bound-aries, but most importantly, they give them the love and affirmation that life on the streets could not give. In this, Paul & Lisa is guided by one simple philosophy: be there for them. "All they want," says Barnaba, "is for someone to love them for who they are."

by Paul Skistad-Kimmel, a concerned artist and writer who is presently a student at Luther Northwestern Theological Seminary

In 2002 our organization changed its name to Adults Saving Kids. Prior to that we were called A-STOP (Alliance for Speaking Truths On Prostitution), STOP (Speaking Truths On Prostitution), or Grassroots Ministry Alliance.