Join us for Human Trafficking Awareness Month to view award-winning documentary about child sex trafficking in California and a Q and A discussion with leaders in the movement and the director of the film.

California’s Forgotten Children is a feature documentary about child sex trafficking. The film recounts true stories of girls and boys who were commercially sexually exploited in California and are now survivors and courageous leaders fighting for the rights of victims worldwide.

This film gives viewers the tools to combat this epidemic and empowers survivors on their path to freedom.

Hosted by LA Stop The Traffik, a student-run, non-profit, Active Communities Against Trafficking (ACT) group at UCLA, which advocates for an increase in community awareness on the exploitation involved in human-trafficking.

We aim to organize events throughout the year to stimulate awareness and understanding about the issue, as well as to engage others to take a stand against such breaches in human rights. Working together with other student groups, non-profit organizations and businesses, we work to raise funds and volunteer for organizations that provide support for victims of trafficking: organizations that directly engage in rescuing victims from the trafficking trade or that help victims to recover and re-establish themselves in the community within a safe environment.

After the film there will be a Q and A discussion with Rachel Thomas, M. Ed who shares her powerful story in the documentary. Rachel is the Co-Founder of Sowers Education Group where she and a team of educators promote sex trafficking awareness and survivor empowerment. A graduate of UCLA with a Masters in Education, Rachel co-authored Ending The Game: An Intervention Curriculum for Survivors of Sex Trafficking. This curriculum has helped hundreds of survivors understand and overcome psychological coercion.

Director of the film Melody C. Miller graduated from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television and has won various film awards nationwide including The Motion Picture Association of America Award and Women in Film Award. While volunteering for a local non-profit Melody found out that students in her high school were being trafficked and decided to dedicate her skills in the arts to make a difference for 10 more years. Using her skills in filmmaking she embarked on a mission to raise awareness and give communities the tools and the knowledge to combat this scourge. Before graduating from UCLA, she brought together 100 influential Bruin artists and 20 organizations to join her in the fight to end trafficking by making California’s Forgotten Children. After years of hard work, she completed the film and Melody continues to work on spreading its message every day.

Fueled by powerful stories and a desire to foster change alongside our partners across the globe, California’s Forgotten Children has become a movement. The film have reached thousands of people internationally raising awareness about the prevalence of child sex trafficking through festival and community screenings; mobilizing change within communities by partnering with local advocates and survivor leaders, and inspiring education reform that advocates for bringing an end to the exploitation of children.

In June 2019, the film screened at the United States Senate encouraging policymakers in creating and implementing laws and policies to combat trafficking. The film won Best Documentary at the Soho International Film Festival and has been changing lives at numerous notable film festivals around the world. The film screened at the United State of Women Summit, the same event where Michelle Obama was a guest speaker. It is now making the rounds in law enforcement organizations, tech companies, non-profits, and educational institutions across the globe to prevent these injustices from continuing.

Thank you