The Dr. Lois Lee Show

Dr. Lois Lee

Dr. Lois Lee — founder of Children of the Night and internationally recognized expert on child sex trafficking — brings over four decades of frontline experience to this powerful podcast. Each episode sheds light on the hidden world of child exploitation, giving voice to survivors, exposing systems that fail them, and championing solutions that protect vulnerable youth. Through interviews, case studies, and unfiltered conversations, Dr. Lee reveals what really happens inside the fight against trafficking — from the rescue of prostituted children to legal battles, public policy, and the resilience of survivors rebuilding their lives. Whether you are a parent, advocate, educator, or concerned citizen, this podcast offers the truth behind the headlines and the tools to create change.

  1. Oct 6

    Episode #53 - Camrie

    After Hurricane Katrina, Camrie's family left New Orleans for San Diego, where they were homeless for about seven years. At school, she was labeled with ADD and learning disabilities and moved from program to program. At 13, after a fight with her mother, she was kicked out and spent the night in a park, where a man raped her on a bench. She describes being recruited by a pimp, being returned home after missing-person reports, and testifying against him in court. Later, while on probation, she ran away to Maryland to meet a man she had met online, and she was exploited there too. A social worker brought her to the Children of the Night home. She stayed for two years, did regular schoolwork outside of special ed, and never returned to the streets. Camrie talks with Dr. Lois Lee about: How her trauma was misdiagnosed as a learning disability Childhood abuse and how it made her more vulnerable to exploitation Finishing high school, going to college, and raising two daughters Working in health care and planning to finish her degree in health administration What schools, lawmakers, and everyday people could do differently for kids like her. ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.

    Episode #53 - Camrie
  2. Sep 22

    Episode #50 - Heidi (Pt. 2/3)

    Heidi was 15 when she was trafficked, and in Part 2 of her story she tells Dr. Lois Lee what it took to get out and what came after. She describes how completely her trafficker controlled her, and how she still believed he loved her even as federal agents closed in. When investigators finally reached her, she stayed silent through a ten-hour interview, having been taught never to talk to police. A detective who understood the life eventually earned her trust, and she agreed to testify about how traffickers operate. Heidi speaks openly about the shame that surrounded her family and friendships, and about the road back. She arrived at Children of the Night to kindness, school, and girls who had lived the same thing, and it was her peers who first told her he never loved her. For the first time, she didn't feel alone. Dr. Lee also shares what it took in the early days to convince law enforcement that these were children. Heidi carries her story through leaving the shelter, earning her GED, and becoming a young mother, and it ends as she heads back toward the life, setting up Part 3. ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.

    Episode #50 - Heidi (Pt. 2/3)
  3. Sep 8

    Episode #48 - Brittany

    Brittany was 17 and living with her mom in Mississippi when her older sister bought her a one-way ticket to Las Vegas, hoping to get her away from a bad home situation. Living under her sister's roof came with rules Brittany resented — and that friction set the stage for what happened next. In the parking lot of her sister's apartment complex, Brittany met a man she suspected was a pimp before he ever said so. What started as a flirtation turned into Brittany orchestrating her own ""kidnapping"" so she could leave her sister's house — against the warnings of a friend who saw the danger clearly. On her very first night out, Brittany was sent with a more experienced girl to meet a "client" who turned out to be undercover Las Vegas Vice. Brittany's intuition kicked in early — she noticed unusually heavy police presence around the strip — but her trafficker's threats kept her silent. She and the other girl used a coded signal ("I don't feel good") to try to pull away from the situation before the officer revealed his badge in a casino elevator lobby. Brittany was taken in for questioning, slipped up by signing her real name on a form, and was ultimately placed in juvenile hall for what became two months while authorities built a case against her trafficker. A juvenile hall guard told her she'd be back — a comment Brittany has never forgotten. In court, a public defender advocated for Brittany to be sent to Children of the Night rather than a juvenile detention facility, describing her as naive rather than a "bad kid." Brittany went on to testify against her trafficker and described the Las Vegas Vice detectives — the same officers who ran the sting — as her "guardian angels," crediting them and the public defender with seeing her innocence when others hadn't. Brittany lived at the Children of the Night shelter in 2002–2003, where she talks about the school program, a memorable classroom visit from Traci Lords, and the friendships she formed with other girls in the home. She left the program at 18, just short of the credits needed for her diploma, and reflects on that choice as one of her biggest regrets — though she's now working with Children of the Night to finish her diploma as an adult. Now a mother herself, Brittany speaks about how her experience shaped her parenting — sometimes in ways she's still working through — and closes with a message about protecting kids from predators, wherever they may come from, and a thank-you to the Las Vegas Vice unit that changed the course of her life. ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.

    Episode #48 - Brittany
  4. Aug 25

    Episode #46 - Rose (Pt. 2/2)

    In Part 2 of her conversation with Dr. Lois Lee, survivor Rose goes deeper into the family dynamics that let her abuse continue in silence — and what it took to finally break that cycle. Rose talks about the man who molested her serving just 30 days in jail, and how her family's instinct was to protect its image rather than confront what happened. She reveals that her twin sister was targeted by the same abuser — something the two never discussed, even decades later. Rose also describes how the abuser used the family dog as a tool of control, retaliating when she and her sister began to resist him. The conversation turns toward systemic change: Rose calls for CPS, schools, and lawmakers to look at the whole family picture instead of just the "acting out" child, arguing that behavioral problems are almost always a signal, not the root cause. She closes by reflecting on her own parenting — taking accountability for what her choices exposed her son to, and how that accountability made her a better mother. Rose ends the episode thanking Dr. Lois Lee and Children of the Night for being a lasting source of stability in her life, more than two decades after she first came through their doors. ⸻ Listen Now: 🎧 New episodes weekly on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, and wherever you listen. Follow & Support 🌐 Website: childrenofthenight.org 📲 Facebook & Instagram: @childrenofthenight 🕊️ X/Twitter: @LoisLee_COTN 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share this podcast to help us reach more listeners and protect vulnerable children.

    Episode #46 - Rose (Pt. 2/2)

About

Dr. Lois Lee — founder of Children of the Night and internationally recognized expert on child sex trafficking — brings over four decades of frontline experience to this powerful podcast. Each episode sheds light on the hidden world of child exploitation, giving voice to survivors, exposing systems that fail them, and championing solutions that protect vulnerable youth. Through interviews, case studies, and unfiltered conversations, Dr. Lee reveals what really happens inside the fight against trafficking — from the rescue of prostituted children to legal battles, public policy, and the resilience of survivors rebuilding their lives. Whether you are a parent, advocate, educator, or concerned citizen, this podcast offers the truth behind the headlines and the tools to create change.