A CWS Senior Anti-Trafficking Caseworker shares how she transformed her personal experience with trafficking into a life of purpose.
Editor’s Note: This story mentions instances of child abuse and neglect that some readers may find upsetting.
Finding Purpose and Power: “I Learned How to Survive Long Before I Learned How to Live”
Vanessa Velarde, a CWS Senior Anti-Trafficking Caseworker for the CWS Northern California RISE and BRAVE programs
Before I had the language to understand what I was experiencing, I was a child living on the streets of Oakland. Survival wasn’t something I chose—it was something I adapted to. I learned to read danger instantly, to stay alert at all times and to navigate environments where safety didn’t exist.
My childhood was shaped by addiction, violence and constant movement between foster homes and periods of homelessness. There were moments of care, especially from my great-great-grandmother, who consistently showed up for me when no one else did. But those moments were surrounded by instability.
As I grew older, I was exposed to environments where children were trying to make money in ways I now understand as exploitation. At the time, I didn’t have the language for trafficking or coercion—I only understood survival.
Everything changed when I experienced the loss of my best friend. Even at 17, I knew I had to make a decision: continue down the path I was on, or attempt to build a safer life.
Leaving that life behind wasn’t easy. But I went back to school. I earned my diploma. I went to college. Slowly, I began to understand that what I had lived through was a systemic failure that shapes children’s lives far more often than is publicly acknowledged or recognized.
That realization gave me purpose.
From Survivor to Advocate
For nearly 30 years, I have worked across juvenile justice, probation, mental health and county systems, later transitioning into nonprofit work supporting survivors of trafficking, exploitation, homelessness and severe trauma.
Today, I work directly with survivors as someone with first-hand lived experience. I know what it means to be a child on the street. I know what it means to normalize chaos. I know what it takes to survive environments where exploitation, violence and instability are everyday realities.
My life today is healthy. I am a mother, a partner and someone who has built something entirely different from where I began. But I don’t separate who I am now from where I came from.
I wouldn’t change my past. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to tell the survivors I work with: “I see you. I hear you. I will not define you by what you’ve lived through or what you had to do to survive it.”
I was once a victim. I became a survivor. Today, I am thriving. My past did not define me—I defined my past.
My story isn’t over.
Every day, I work to support children and adults who are trying to reach safety. Through Church World Service, I stand with survivors. I believe their stories. I walk with them through healing. For that, I am deeply grateful.
CWS’s Anti-Trafficking program provides survivor-centered case management, training and outreach to help individuals impacted by human trafficking regain independence, safety and healing through trauma-informed and culturally responsive services. Through its R.I.S.E. program and survivor-led training, the team connects clients to critical resources—like housing, legal support and healthcare—while equipping communities and organizations to better identify and support survivors.
Vanessa Velarde is a Senior Anti-Trafficking Caseworker for the CWS Northern California RISE and BRAVE programs. Learn more about the work of CWS Northern California here.