Show notes
Dr. Beth Lorance joins Dr. Sandie Morgan as they discover how a high school coach gave one of his players expensive gifts, things her mother had refused to buy, with the mom posting online asking what to do, not realizing she was witnessing grooming behavior that creates the same vulnerabilities traffickers exploit in trusted spaces throughout our communities.
Dr. Beth Lorance
Dr. Beth Lorance is an adjunct professor at Vanguard University, where she teaches Family Violence and has also taught Introduction to Psychology and Psychology of the Family. She earned her PsyD in Clinical Psychology and previously served as the director of Vanguard's counseling center. In addition to her academic background, Beth is a licensed minister with the Assemblies of God, which allows her to bring both psychological expertise and theological insight into conversations about abuse, trauma, and healing. Her passion is deeply personal, rooted in her own family history of child sexual abuse, and she is committed to equipping others to use their voices to prevent abuse, protect the vulnerable, and walk alongside survivors. Beth also works to bring awareness into the church, encouraging faith communities to reflect Jesus' response to victims and to take seriously the call to protect those who are most vulnerable.
Key Points
Family violence creates deep vulnerabilities by teaching children harmful lessons that love is transactional, they're not enough, and there's something wrong with them that they can't overcome - wounds that become embedded in their brain chemistry when trauma happens at a young age.
Traffickers don't create vulnerabilities but rather exploit existing wounds from family abuse, stepping into unmet needs and exploiting lessons already learned about intimacy being tied to exploitation.
Statistics reveal that 90% of abusers are known to their victims with only 10% being strangers, and 31% of traffickers are actually family members of the victim, making "stranger danger" education insufficient.
Grooming is a process of control and manipulation that builds trust, chips away boundaries, and creates dependency so victims willingly comply when lines are crossed into inappropriate behavior because they've been normalized to the perpetrator's actions.
Training is essential for leaders, staff, pastors, volunteers, and teachers to recognize grooming signs like expensive gift-giving, requests for secrecy, and isolating language such as "your parents don't understand you, but I do."
Clear boundaries and policies are crucial, including no one-on-one supervision between adults and children, with swift consequences when policies aren't followed to prevent grooming opportunities.
Children need to be empowered to say no even to trusted adults, with parents and leaders respecting their boundaries and teaching them about "tricky people" rather than just strangers.
Trauma-informed communities must stop asking "what's wrong with you?" and instead listen without judgment, sitting with broken people without requiring them to change or behave in prescribed ways to receive care.
Parents should be vigilant about adults in their children's lives, knowing what interactions look like and requiring that any adult who wants to be friends with their child must be friends with the parent first.
Breaking the cycle requires communities that believe victims, provide someone to stand up for those who can't yet stand up for themselves, and create new family structures when biological families fail to protect.
Resources
204 – Is Your Organization Trauma Informed and Why Should It Be?
124 – Prevention: Trauma Informed and Transformational Schools
Transcript
[00:00:00] Sandie Morgan: Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking Podcast here at Vanguard University's Global Center for Women and Justice in Orange County, California. I'm Dr. Sandie Morgan, and this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice,