Executive Summary: Mission Focus

PHIGS aims to create a safe, Christ-centered, trauma-informed environment with family-style homes. The plan addresses PHIGS's history, strategy for impact, facilities and programs (including education and therapy), growth plan, organizational structure, partnerships, fund development, financial projections, and the process for recognition and accreditation. Along with a select group of advisors we are building with reference to the residential family-care model that has been developed over 50-years since 1974 at Big Oak Ranch.

Our goal is to come to the table as a well-funded, capably staffed, trauma-informed residential child care resource for our anti-trafficking enforcement and legal advocacy partners. As such, our intake and survivor-care practices must be security sensitive and oriented around the unique needs of these very young girls.

Specifically, in Phase One, the girls that make up The Society will come from wherever they are rescued or discovered within the United States. With standing before the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) as a Recognized Organization with active, Accredited Representatives working in the courts, and with a state license to operate as a private, residential childcare facility, PHIGS will be in a position to receive girls from a variety of locations around the country.

PHIGS will pursue guardianship for the girls and operate under a 9-Point Guardianship Model, providing comprehensive care and support. We are also working to obtain recognition with the DOJ/EOIR to become a trusted placement option for Category 4 Unaccompanied Children. Our purpose is to create a staff-secure, family-oriented private residential care environment where girls are free from harm and exploitation and are likewise free to achieve agency in all areas of their lives: physically, spiritually, intellectually, and emotionally. All-in-all, the “9-Point” culture of PHIGS is designed to provide trauma-informed safety for the girls, accountability for the staff and transparency for donors and the Governance Board.

Because of their very young age, the girls we seek to serve cannot self-identify as victims, even though they are. Many of them cannot even tell us their names because they are so young. Most won’t know where they came from, and they have no real idea of where they are when they are discovered. The only consent obtained for placement within PHIGS is most likely a judge's consent. In these cases, there are no parents or other relatives to work out an “out-of-home family services agreement” with us. The girls’ permanency plan, by default, is PHIGS. By the end of phase one our goal is to provide loving homes for 20 girls. These 20 girls will become the “big sisters” of the ones who follow in years 4 and beyond. As the “first 20” receive trauma-informed care and wrap-around services, realize academic success, develop their God-given gifts & abilities and demonstrate positive community influence, their legacy will endure for generations to come. Such is the intended outcome for the Society’s lifelong sisterhood.

According to the Jensen Project (2024), the child welfare system is not statistically a beneficial place for abandoned and trafficked children. In their report, 63% of children who have experienced sexual trauma have also had involvement with the child welfare system. That statistic is unfortunate enough. Now, consider the compounded difficulty of seeking custodial care for the youngest girls who do not know their name, birthplace, age and have no means of communicating that information even if they did know it. Add to that, all the perpetrators who know of this conundrum and insert themselves malevolently into the process of sponsorship or foster care in order to obtain access to these girls as seemingly legitimate caregivers. Not only is it unfortunate, it's unacceptable. Our aim, over the next three years, is for PHIGS to become a preferred placement option for these girls, in particular.