The Slave in Your Backyard: The Local Reality of Human Trafficking

"Human trafficking" in the popular imagination often conjures images of dramatic kidnappings, crime syndicates, and shipping containers. Such things are a reality, but for the majority of those involved with fighting trafficking and helping survivors...and for the survivors themselves...the realities of human trafficking are typically much more subtle and manipulative, built upon abusive and psychologically controlling relationships.

The Slave in Your Backyard: The Local Reality of Human Trafficking, reveals the dark reality of human trafficking as it typically exists in average communities across the US. The film features the story of Heather Pagan who was initially trafficked around the age of 14 by a boyfriend who convinced her that they were building something together that would take her away from the brokenness of her own home and family. Heather tells about the harsh realities of a life bound in drugs and commercial sex as well as the redemptive tale of her escape from "the l