Children of the Night

Movie Review Two

Children of the Night

           The movie, Children of the Night is an older movie made in the early 1970’s that was based on the work of social scientist Dr. Lois Lee in Hollywood California. She saw homeless children that were controlled by men “pimps”, that forced children to have sex with strangers every moment of every day. Lois began interviewing these homeless children through gathering information for a dissertation she was working on in order to find a way to rescue homeless children entrenched in sex trafficking/prostitution.   Lois was able to start a nonprofit agency called children of the light that began to operate a hotline, street outreach program, and a walk-in crisis center in the heart of Hollywood (Markowitz, 1984). Children of the Night has been in operation for over 40 years now that currently provides intensive case management, job readiness training, and shelter program for child survivors of sex trafficking/prostitution. 

The Review

Scene One

           The first significant sequence of scenes chosen begins when Lois Lee interviews young teen girls on the street for her dissertation, the police come and begin to harass the girls instead of helping them. There seems to be an ignorance on part of the local authorities in understanding the history of girls that prostitute themselves on the street. They are often seen as criminals, arrested and placed in jail for solicitation. Lois’s topic for her dissertation was initially denied through ignorance of the school faculty to the plight of homeless children. Lois confronts her professor who responds with “the school faculty was not interested in the question if a prostitute reaches orgasm when having sex with her clients” (Markowitz, 1984). Lois has conversation with one of the pimp’s that tries to entice Lois with money and materialism asking if she would work with him and leave his girls alone, but she declines. He stated every woman has a price, he stated their family threw them away and the man that buys them keeps them out there. The first set of interacts depict ignorance and failure to comprehend the plight of runaway and homeless youth, on part of authorities, and educational institutions as the sex trafficker continues to exploit and profit from the vulnerability of homeless children.  

Aspects to Look for/further review. At-risk children including homeless youth and those that run away, are more likely to fall victim to sexual exploitation, often forced to trade sex for basic needs such as food or shelter (Middleton, Gattis, Frey, & Roe-Sepowitz, 2018, p. 141).   Bender, Begun, Durbahn, Ferguson, & Schau (2018) define homeless youth as individuals between early/late teens to age of twenty-one, who lack fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, including those living in emergency or transitional shelters (Bender et al., 2018, p. 150). Davies & Allen (2015), define runaway and homeless children as persons who are not more than 21 years of age for whom it is not possible to live in a safe environment with a relative and who have no other safe alternative living environment (Davies & Allen, 2015, p. 54), 

Scene Two

           The second significant sequence of scenes connected with Valerie, one of the girls that Lois works with during the movie. Lois initially meets Valerie when she observes her being pushed out of a car while holding her side. Lois notices that Valerie had been stabbed so she takes her home and bandages her up and allows her to stay with the other girls. The second scene depicts coming to rescue Valarie at 2:30 in the morning because she is stuck in a hotel naked because someone took her clothes. 

Lois attempt to reunite Valarie with her mother and take her to San Bernardino. Valarie had been raped by her stepfather which instigated her to running away from home. However, Valarie’s mother does not allow Valarie to stay because she feels that her life is better without her. She stated, “Valarie has a way of making things worse” (Markowitz, 1984). Valarie becomes jealous when her old pimp spends too much time with Lois and goes back to him where she becomes addicted to drugs and prostitution once again. The last scene shows Lois coming to rescue Valarie in an abandoned building where she has become broken and alone. Lois discloses the frustration she has had in trying to help her. Valarie finally let’s go of her anger and embraces Lois. They go home together, with Valarie allowing herself to heal and slowly becomes an advocate for the Children of the Night shelter program.

Aspects to Look for/further review. The case conceptualization of Valarie represents typical antecedents that incite children to run away from home. Some of the reason’s youth may experience homelessness includes being thrown out or fleeing family situations that are conflictual, alienating and dangerous (Crosby, Hsu, Jones, & Rice, 2018). 

Scene Three

           The third scene chosen shows Lois standing outside a proposed site to house the children she has been helping through her outreach ministry with a reporter that is providing credence by explaining to the media what she has been doing through her outreach to homeless children and prostitutes, the reporter explains, “inside this building are scores of children some only 11 years of age, runaways and throwaways, most have no place to go, some running away from pimps, some are gang members hiding from their enemies, all without the basic needs of food or shelter” (Markowitz, 1984). Lois was finally able to help people realize that some homeless children are forced into prostitution that need help and understanding rather than judgement and condemnation. 

Therapeutic Implications

           Children that experience traumatic experiences before and during homelessness have long-term consequences for behavior, physiology, emotion regulation, cognitive processes, social relationships, and health (Herbers, Cutuli, Monn, Narayan, & Masten, 2014). Lois saw homeless and abandoned children on the street sexually exploited and forced into prostitution. She saw that law enforcement and people in general judged and condemned these children rather than helping them. 

           The specific value of showing the scene was to help provide understanding to the problem of homeless children caught up with sex trafficking and educate society with some of the reasons behind children running away and what can happen to children that do end up on the street. There are children that are not part of the department of human services or in juvenile probation but fall through the cracks and are left to fend for themselves. This writer develops a safety plan for each youth that leaves the unaccompanied minor shelter with a list of national and local phone numbers of social service agencies that provide food, clothing, shelter, and other needed interventions. This would be a good idea to provide every child with local and national resources and how to call for help if he or she gets into a difficult situation. 

           The second Therapeutic concept is taken from the client history of Valarie. There are many children that struggle with homelessness, that also have mental health and substance use disorders partly caused by the trauma they have experienced. Herbers et al., (2014), states “homeless children are often exposed to trauma that may expose them to mental health difficulties that include; specific symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, separation anxiety, hyperactivity, problems with cognitive control or executive functions, including poor inhibitory functions (Herbers et al., 2014, p. 1167). Valarie demonstrated many of these symptoms which caused her to have emotional outbursts, run away from conflict, and experience difficulties in trusting others. Lois showed her consistent unconditional love as she held Valarie accountable for her action. 

The specific value of showing the scene was to demonstrate how traumatic experiences may shape a child’s life and influence his or her development and behaviors. There are potential negative consequences to experiencing traumatic events so that it is necessary for children that have experienced trauma to be properly assessed for any possible mental health concerns along with a comprehensive treatment plan for appropriate interventions. 

The Third Therapeutic concept is to be aware that working with traumatized children may be difficult and emotionally draining on family, therapists, and social agencies. Lois’s boyfriend had difficulty understanding and being able to provide support to Lois. Valarie’s mother could not understand how to provide unconditional love and support to Valarie, and Lois struggled with being objective and setting personal boundaries as she worked with these children.

The specific value of showing the scene was to provide a foundation to the need of keeping boundaries and for self-care. Valarie’s mother needed parenting skills in how to communicate better with Valarie. Lois needed understanding in how to keep personal and professional boundaries and the need to care for herself to avoid becoming burned out in the future. 

Personal Implications

Personal Level Connection

           Children of the Night was a difficult movie to watch. It was both graphic and heart breaking to know that there are so many homeless children with no place to go, vulnerable to violence and trauma. This writer’s father has worked the past 20 years with the homeless population in Florida. It easy to blame drugs and alcohol as reasons behind homelessness, but often those that have become homeless have profound histories of traumatic events. This writer recently worked at a dual diagnosis day treatment center that was in the poorest drug infested part of Philadelphia and was nicknamed as “The Badlands”. This writer helped young men and women that were addicted to drugs and alcohol through developing coping skills and heal from past traumatic events in their lives. There was at least 90% of clients that had histories of physical or sexual abuse and at least 50% that became prostitutes to provide for their needs. This writer worked in a dual diagnosis program so every client had a mental health and substance use disorder, but there was also a combination of mental health illness, substance use disorder with history of trauma. 

 The second personal connection was the need for self-care. This writer first went into the helping field wanting to save the world but was uncomfortable in sitting with someone in pain. It took many years to first manage one’s own thoughts, feelings, and personal issues, before one can provide help to another person. It is also important to realize it is not the therapist that helps but rather the God of one’s own understanding that works through the therapist and clients must be taught self-empowerment and develop one’s own coping skills for change that will last. This writer left addiction counseling partly because 5 clients had overdosed on fentanyl during the year of working there. That was a very traumatic experience that negatively affected this writer.

Perceptions of child/adolescent trauma. Once a child becomes homeless, he or she is vulnerable to many forms of traumatic experiences. (Bender et al., (2018) describe homeless children having an 83% chance of experiencing physical and sexual violence; including being beaten up, assaulted, or raped, with 15% to 25% of homeless children report being sexually assaulted since becoming homeless (Bender et al., 2018, p. 153). Homeless children are especially vulnerable to sex trafficking, Middleton, Gattis, Frey, & Roe-Sepowitz, (2018) define “sex-trafficking as recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purposes of a commercial sex act, in which the act was induced by force, fraud, or coercion” (Middleton, Gattis, Frey, & Roe-Sepowitz, 2018, p. 142). There needs to be more understanding and outreach to children that fall through the cracks. Child pornography is a billion-dollar industry and it seems that sexual sin is viewed more harshly in the Christian community. 

Personal utilization. This writer has a heart for hurting people. There are hurting people in the world that make bad choices. IT is important to look past a person’s behavior and search for root causes that have shaped the person’s choices he or she has made. It is important to be objective when listening to a person’s story.

The second lesson learned is the need for self-care. Therapists are human and it is difficult not to take a client’s issues home with them. Though, there is a need to have a work and personal balance as well as an understanding that therapy is a team approach that involves the therapist, client and the God of their understanding within healing occurs. There cannot be one person that works harder than the other without some negative consequences as well. 

Professional Implications

Delivery of Therapeutic Interventions/Services

           The movie Children of the Night brought clarity to the problem of homeless children and sex trafficking.  There are at least 1.6 million homeless children in the United States (Bender et al., 2018). This writer initially applied to work with a Christian ministry in Surabaya Indonesia in 2015. This ministry works with women and child prostitutes that work in a cemetery and provide services at night on tombstones. They are so poor and trapped in their work. This writer was not able to transition into that position, but his wife was in Surabaya taking care of a family nephew. This writer’s wife worked with Compassion First for over a year. The women and their children were often illiterate with little education or job training. Compassion First works to educate along with job readiness skills to provide an alternative to prostitution. Children of the Night program does the same in helping children with coping and job readiness skills along with mental health counseling so that there is a way to provide for oneself after leaving prostitution behind. 

          This writer has provided sexual addiction support groups to area men struggling with sexual brokenness. Many times, men that solicit women prostitutes have sexual abuse histories that in someway sexual boundaries have been crossed. American society promotes and accepts pornography as a first amendment right while turning a blind eye to the suicide and substance abuse rate of pornography actors and actresses. There used to be X-rated theaters and adult bookstores but now with the internet, explicit images can be brought into every bedroom in America. Sexual brokenness is destroying marriage and the family. The church should be at the forefront of providing intervention, but most times hides or just pronounces judgment instead of realistic and genuine help and support. There needs to be more programs to reaching out to women that are stuck on the street feeling like there is no way out of their situation.   

Scenes agreed/disagreed professionally. This writer agreed with the connection between past traumatic events and children running away from home to escape his or her situation. Dr. Lois Lee recently became upset when backpage was taken out of business. She stated that sex trafficking and child prostitution will be more difficult to fight when it goes underground and hides in the shadows. There is no perfect solution to provide a broken world that does not follow the precepts of God but rather what is popular today. 

Lessons learned/more competent counselor.  The lessons learned emanate from the three scenes chosen to discuss in the movie. The first lesson is that trauma may cause profound consequences to children and if left unprotected may cause more harm in his or her future. Sexual brokenness has caused harm to men. Women, children, marriages and families. Pornography has invaded and corroded the family and there must be a plan for teaching Christian families how to respond to sexual brokenness. The church must be willing to reach out unconditionally to the issues of sexual brokenness and be willing to discuss sex without judgement and condemnation. 

God created us as sexual creatures to experience sex within the confines of marriage and we must teach our children as Lob 31:1 states "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman” (New International Version). For the church to be willing to open its doors to those that are sexually broken and to reach out to prostitutes with love and understanding. Sexual issues bring shame that keeps it hidden in the shadows. 

Conclusion

           The Movie Children of the Night helped to provide a voice to the vulnerable children sex trafficked up and down through every city and town within the United States. Even after 40 years that this movie was made, prostitution, and pornography is a thriving business that destroys men, women, children, marriages and families along the way. Though there cannot be lasting change through just reaching out to those that provides sexual services without also providing intervention to the sexual broken that are addicted to those services. 

References

Bender, K., Begun, S., Durbahn, R., Ferguson, K., & Schau, N. (2018). My Own Best Friend: Homeless Youths’ Hesitance to Seek Help and Strategies for Coping Independently after Distressing and Traumatic Experiences. Social Work in Public Health, 33(3), 149-162. doi:10.1080/19371918.2018.1424062

Bender, K., Brown, S. M., Thompson, S. J., Ferguson, K. M., & Langenderfer, L. (2014). Multiple victimizations before and after leaving home associated with PTSD, depression, and substance use disorder among homeless youth. Child Maltreatment, 20(2), 115-124. doi:10.1177/1077559514562859

Crosby, S. D., Hsu, H., Jones, K., & Rice, E. (2018). Factors that contribute to help-seeking among homeless, trauma-exposed youth: A social-ecological perspective. Children and Youth Services Review, 93, 126-134. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.07.015

Davies, B. R., & Allen, N. B. (2017). Trauma and homelessness in youth: Psychopathology and intervention. Clinical Psychology Review, 54, 17-28. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2017.03.005

Markowitz, R. (Director). (1984). Children of the night [Motion picture on Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHjGX_wFxdU]. United States: Robert Guenette Productions.

Middleton, J. S., Gattis, M. N., Frey, L. M., & Roe-Sepowitz, D. (2018). Youth Experiences Survey (YES): Exploring the Scope and Complexity of Sex Trafficking in a Sample of Youth Experiencing Homelessness. Journal of Social Service Research, 44(2), 141-157. doi:10.1080/01488376.2018.1428924