Child abuse destroys lives. My daughter's dad once told me" You overprotect her. Not everyone is bad " I said I know but I'd rather be wrong protecting her than be wrong by not doing so". He got my point. She's 5.

Why do people press dislike on this? There is a woman telling her story which must be very hard for her... why do you dislike that? It doesnt make any sense to me at all. Thank you for sharing and bringing awareness Holly. You are a hero.

Everyone failed her 😪 her parents, the police, even the social worker who she told about the abuse. She is so strong and she should be SO proud of herself. So brave to share her story. Glad she got out so quickly ❤

She mentioned “ back in my 20’s “ girl you look like you’re in your 20’s now. So beautiful. Sorry for all you went through but I agree your parents need to be held responsible.

That's why I always say don't ever leave the kids somewhere if they don't want to stay no matter what

Oh, dear girl . I was never trafficked,, but only by the grace of God. Molested as a child (in the 50's and 60's.....waaay before children were taught about "bad touch"), lost as an adolescent, I got into drugs and alcohol, risky relationships, dangerous situations, and plenty of shame and bewilderment. Thank you for your work with vulnerable people, and educating us all to do better.

My own sister won't speak to me because our Father molested me. My family told me not to talk about it and abandoned me because I was molested. It's traumatizing enough to be molested and to have zero support makes it more traumatizing. I am truly sorry for all you have endured and for anybody that has endured this abuse. My heart hurts for you and I mourn who I lost when that happened. I mourn all that is lost from sexual abuse assault. Abandonment and so much more. 💕💜💕

I feel like so many people failed you and you still manage to break out and come out strong.

I am a 65 yr. old lady who was molested by an uncle, I told my aunt and like your parents, was told to be quiet! I'm very happy to see these videos of girls/children/ladies sharing their stories! I have been married several times, have 3 beautiful kids, 6 grandchildren that I adore!! I live alone now on Disabilty because I always felt worthless, never felt loved or trusted anyone until my children came along! I knew they would love me unconditionally!

"Lack of validation" - that's it. That really helped me articulate some of my past.

the fact that she is alive let alone this put together is truly remarkable. I would have given up a long time ago. such a strong woman.

The parents should have been very angry with the cousin not their daughter.

This young woman is so brave. I'm so glad that she has the strength to share her story.

My step father molested me and my mom didn't want to here it, shortly after he passed away she asked me about it and all I could say was "now you want to know almost 30 yrs later, yes mom he molested me more than once".She just dropped her head in shame and said nothing.

I am amazed how some girls going through stories like this develop incredible character and strength. Thank you for your testimony.

I am amazed how articulate, insightful, caring and understanding you are, and I am quite shocked at how old you must be as you said 20 yrs later I thought you were only about 20 in the first place.Just to say if you were my daughter I would be very very proud of you may God bless you always.

This problem stems back to Holly's parents. They enabled this to happen. Holly is a true survivor. She is one of the strongest people out there.

Being a man listening to this is so heartbreaking. It bothers me that these things happen.

First off, as one fellow survivor to another, I am so sorry that happened to you. With that said, I know you love your parents, and I'm sure they are lovely people, but they really dropped the ball in their role as parents. Listening to your story, I am so thankful my parents not only believed me, they took action. No parent should ignore a child's pain to save others from discomfort. That's how pedophiles thrive, by other's complacency.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to build a strong relationship with your children. Talk to them everyday.

Wow, now I understand the fear of authority. I never pieced it together with the lack of validation. I thank you profoundly.

You spoke so articulately!! Sending you positive vibes. You didn’t deserve anything that happened to you.

She’s so well spoken and very obviously highly intelligent. Wishing her a complete healing and a happy satisfying life of loyal friendship and family! Thanks for sharing your story!

As a survivor of child sexual abuse, I would like to thank you for your bravery. Thank you for helping others find their true selves. I'm still working on it. Blessed be.

This is so sad! Holly is obviously a very bright, articulate woman! I hope she's able to turn this tragedy into something good and beautiful.

If my kid begged not to stay somewhere I wouldn’t leave them !! So many people failed this young lady .. glad she is ok and a beautiful woman

The parents never wondered why their daughter had begged her so that she didn't have to go there. The alarm bells should ring! "They are great parents" I'm not sure about this.

"My parents were great parents" "They told me to not talk about it, they told me to lie, i now have borderline personality disorder and i was self trafficked"

Thank you. A lot of courage is required to look back into that horror and tell this story. We are grateful to you.

Why are these girls being arrested and being treated as criminals 😢 such a sad story and it’s so sad this still goes on and is just ignored

And the guy said YOU LOOK LIKE MY GRANDAUGHTER (he knew what he was looking for) It shocks me to see how some people are so disgusting !

When you have a child your own social life is over. Being a parent is extremely hard. Holly had breeders not parents. No parents would do this

I hope you are living a happy life now holly

You reminded him of his granddaughter?!?! 🤮😱💔 I’m so sorry sweetie. God BLESS you for speaking out and sharing ❤️

Holly is extremely brave to appear in this video.

Cops really need to train more on sexual trafficking, mental illness etc.

So sorry this happened to you! Very good speaker, you should speak at schools and foster homes! Stay strong!

Well done Holly. You are a wonderful inspiration. You spoke very well and have a very good understanding of yourself. Wishing you well for the future!

I've never written about this before. I'm not sure why I feel compelled to share this here and it probably doesn't matter much anyway all these years later but maybe the exercise of writing it out, confessing in a way that it did happen to me will somehow be healing to me, or maybe be helpful to someone else who might find this and read it. I just want to say that whenever I hear survivor stories like Holly's in this video, I think wow I'm so lucky and so glad that nothing like this never happened to me. And then I remember. I think a lot of women have stories like this to tell but how do we do it? It seems easier to leave it all buried and just go forward so I don't think about these events in my past very often but sometimes when I see a picture of me as a child, I feel sorry about what happened to that little girl who was me. And I get frustrated that the feeling of not being believed still lingers and that it should have never happened, I should have been able to trust enough to tell the truth, and been loved enough to have been believed. And that I still question why and why not? And I wonder if I would have become a different person without these experiences, either a better person with more confidence, self esteem, ability to trust and have a joy for life, or maybe am I actually stronger than I would have been because of them? Or in spite of them? I wonder if I have an inner strength like Holly seems to have but I just don't develop it because I still hide what happened to me. Not sure if I will ever know any of those answers either. When I was about 5, the next door neighbor girl - her name was Terri and maybe she was about 12 or 14? - babysat me and my little sister. We would pretend I was in trouble and she had to punish me and spank me with various things - her hand, a wooden spoon, a strap - and she said if I told she would do it to my sister. She would slap my sister's hands until she cried. My sister would have been only 3 or 4. I remember feeling like I had to protect her so I let Terri spank me. She also would tuck me in and put me in my mom's bed and we would lay side by side, I had clothes (pajamas?) on but she would get under the covers with me with her clothes on, and she would kiss me on the mouth which felt very weird being kissed by someone not my parents or grandparents, and her breath was warm and smelled not bad but just different than mine and her lips were thin and dry, and her arms had bumpy skin and it all felt wrong but I told myself it was because she liked me more than she liked my sister, and that she was my friend. She would let me wear her long blue dress and we would dance around and sing to the Bay City Rollers song Saturday Night. I felt special, like she thought I was her little sister. I remember one time when I was in the bathtub. I was on my stomach swimming and my mom saw bruises on my bum and asked me what they were from. I remember twisting around so I could see my back side and seeing the bruises. I remember thinking Terri would get in trouble so I looked up at my Mom and told her I fell down. I remember hoping she could tell I was lying so she would know what really had happened without me having to actually tell on Terri. But she kept asking about it, how did it happen so I finally told my parents the truth that Terri had spanked me. So they had Terri come over and I had to stand there in front of them and tell her what I said and she lied! she said I had fallen off my bike and that I was lying. And they asked me if this was true, and I remember looking at them, and knowing they didn't believe me. So I just said yes I had made it up. Then they made me go next door and tell her parents I had made it up and apologize to them for lying. I remember Terri's mom telling her dad to come into the living room from the kitchen and she made Terri's siblings go upstairs. They had one of those rickety circular black iron stair cases that I was afraid to go on because I always worried it would come detached from the ceiling and fall and there was an opening to the upstairs and I knew they were listening. Her parents sat on the couch and I stood in front of them and confessed and they stared at me. I remember Terri's mom lecturing me about how bad I was that I had lied to get Terri in trouble and how disappointed everyone was. I was 5 years old! I know this because we moved away when I was 6. And up until we moved, Terri still babysat us and we would go next door to her house and play just like nothing had ever happened. So it must have been when I was 6, I remember playing in a garden shed in their back yard. It was white metal with rusty spots and had no windows and it was hot and smelled like grass clippings. For some reason, along with the lawnmower and tools and bikes, it had a mattress (or maybe it was a long lawn chair cushion?) with that grey and white striped mattress cover fabric with the little buttons. I remember we would go in there and play house. Her brother was named Dean. And Terri made us go in there together, and I remember being on that mattress, and then I remember the door being hard to slide open and walking out but I really can not remember what happened while we were in there together. When I think of it, its just a fuzzy blank so maybe nothing happened more than two kids being locked in a shed together but I just don't know which makes me wonder if I block it out? Or I was lucky and nothing happened? If something happened, wouldn't I remember it better? Or it's better I don't so I can tell myself it was some game like seven minutes in heaven and nothing happened. Which is mostly what I tell myself... but there's always that slight lingering doubt. When I think about these memories and some other things that have happened in my life, I think where were my parents?! Why was I even in compromising situations? I know I was very lucky and I somehow avoided a lot of trauma and the heartache so many people are faced with. Maybe it's made me learn to be more cautious and why I try to help when I see a problem. Like when I started working at Taco Bell. One of my co-workers was this cool girl and she invited me to a party. I was 17, never had been to party, and I thought that would be fun since I had just graduated and I was independent now. It was at someone's apartment. There were a lot of people, and they were older, and smoking, and drinking, and doing drugs. When I realized my new friend was acting weird, I figured out she was doing drugs too and she said it was something called Crank. She also said her boyfriend kept fighting with her and was always disappointed with her that she "didn't move right" when they had sex, which surprised me that they had had sex, and apparently he also didn't care if she slept with his friends. She also told me she had ran away from home and was living with him. I decided she couldn't stay there with him and left the party and brought her home with me. She was very wasted and wouldn't/couldn't sleep and kept wandering around my house so I stayed up all night with her trying to keep her quiet until my parents woke up in the morning. They were mad and apparently rescuing a girl has consequences so they made me go to work even though I had not slept, and I didn't drink or do any drugs, and I thought I had done the right thing but it felt like a punishment knowing my sister got to go with my dad driving the 4 or 5 hours to take her to her parent's house on the other side of the state, and they wouldn't let me go with them. My dad said they dropped her off and turned around and came home. I have no idea what happened to her. She never came back to work. And I didn't admit to people that it was my fault. I wonder if she went back to more of the same troubles, or if she reconciled with her parents, or took the opportunity and changed her life. I wonder if she hated me or was glad to have gotten out of there. I realized that just a few different choices could have sent me down a very similar path like what she was on, and I knew I didn't want that. So it's been a few decades, and I've had lots of various life experiences. Overall I have lived a relatively uneventful drama free and safe adult life. I'm pretty cautious and do try to avoid things, people and situations that might bring a lot of the risks and problems that cause such heartaches but a person can't avoid all the bad in the world. Sometimes we don't have a choice, things happen to us. The things we can control with our choices have such an impact going both ways, positive or negative, intended or not, and we learn that almost always many things could be a lot better and also many things could be a lot worse. In many instances I feel honesty that I was protected by God. I have no idea why terrible things happen to some people and not to others. Or why some people are destroyed and others triumph. I feel like I was very lucky and blessed to have made it through so I'm not complaining but I hope someday all these things will make sense. I would like to understand it all and feel ok with myself and my life, and the people in my life that let me down, and let go of the confusion, disappointment and sadness that still lingers. I still have trust issues both with trusting too much and not enough, and both with others and myself. And I can realize that so many who hurt others must also hurting themselves, so I forgive my parents, and Terri, and everyone else that I need to and not just for them, but for me so someday I can heal and be whole. I sincerely hope that all people of all ages who are hurting and struggling and being abused are able to find a way out, and a way to forgive so they can heal and mend their hearts, and learn to trust, most of all learn to forgive and trust themselves, and then to triumph. I hope we all find abundant happiness and let go of all sadness. This life is hard, but life is good. Most people are good. God bless us all.

This is one of the most raw, honest and heart touching story ever... godbless lady, you are amazing girl.

Your parents failed you Holly. I am so sorry.

Thank you, Holly. It’s the girls with the beautiful hearts that attract these monster traffickers. I’m so glad you found our “sisters.”

When I was around 12 in the late 80's two 30ish women approached me and complemented me about my look, insisted that I sit with them and talk. I did and they wanted me to come live with them. They were telling me how hard it is living with parents and how they took in kids that run away and let them drink, smoke pot and how fun they were. They gave me their phone # and said they'd come get me anytime if my home life ever got bad. I kept the # for yrs and almost called many times. Pretty sure they were looking for kids to pimp out. I'm glad I had a weird feeling about calling them. My home life was bad but I'm sure it would've been tragic if I ran away to them. Her name was Maude.

While in the US Army not quite 18 and stationed in San Antonio Texas, I was nearly kidnapped and sex trafficked. While walking off base with a few other army girls, a guy, young and handsome with a nice car stopped and talked to us. During this stop he asked if I would like to go out on a date and I said yes...yes..I was young, dumb and stupid...the next day he picked me up for this date. He said I have a six pack, let's have a beer over in the park..i agreed, there was people around and I felt okay about it. We.sat in this small gazebo. He was being charming, sweet and attentive. A few times he said let me see your beer and shook the can a little and said oh you have a bit more, here drink it up, I'm ahead of you... Well anyway after that beer he said lets go for a ride before we go out..during that ride I started to feel funny...really strange...my mind started reeling, my heart started racing like I was on speed. RIGHT THEN I REALIZED HE HAD PUT SOMETHING IN MY DRINK!! Even though I was so young..i instinctively knew NOT TO ACT ANY DIFFERENT and to not ask anything about the drink. But inside myself I was scared as hell. While we were riding down the multi road highway thru the city, he says as he is pulling into this hotel or motel, I have to stop here for a minute, I will be right back out but by this time I knew he was lying and no way was he or anyone else going to get me in that hotel...so I said to myself when he gets out his side, then I will get out my side and we will have the car between us..so as soon as that happened and he seen me get out to..he started chasing me around the car but he could not catch me then I took off to run across the multi road highway, 3 lanes each side to get to a donut shop, I ran in and tried to get someone to help me but I literally could not talk, get full words out because of the drug he gave me..well in the end a police man and woman put me in the back of their car, still couldn't talk but all of a sudden I came down from the drug and could talk almost like a monotone voice and told them everything that happened. They said " Young lady..you are very lucky. The drug this man put in your beer was most likely amphetamines. Alot of young girls have been coming up missing here, from what we are finding out they are being kidnapped and sex trafficked in these hotels and sold and transported all around the United States. I thank God for not being a victim and disappearing like so many have. This was in the beginning of the year 1980.

innocent children are being exploited because of the adult are blinded to the truth.

Children dont speak up because they don't have the vocabulary to explain being raped or molested. They don't know what it means.

This is one of the saddest, most horrific true stories I have ever heard in my life and I am NOT young! Holly, you are so articulate, so kind-hearted. I pray our God will hold you and support you all the days of your life from here on out....

I can't believe the way the officer treated you - and how compassionate you are by saying he just didn't have the right training. You are one strong woman for sure - thank you for telling your story. These things need to stop!

You definitely have a gift of teaching and healing. ❤️😊

It's good you survived to share your story and make an impact for others. You're beautiful.

I’m a guy, aged somewhere between 25 - 40 (just to protect my own privacy a bit.) and I was truly upset watching this. Possibly one of the most heartbreaking things is when Holly says, barely a minute in, “My parents were really great people, who I love very much”. How heartbreaking. I don’t mean to judge, but but from what is later said about them, I’m afraid I have a hard time believing this. Poor kid. The system’s failings were tragic. Just…… tragic.

All you needed was love. I felt this way for 31 years until I experienced real love from someone else. Its ok to be mad at your parents.

Well done Holly Austin. Wonderfully articulate and insightful. I wish you well.

Wow, way to go "parents"!! I would never call myself a perfect mom, but give me a friggin break!! I hope their nights out were worth it! Scumbags. This strong woman wasn't even rebellious- she wanted out from her house and I would've too! It's amazing how well she turned out, and I'm sure it was the opposite of easy. She also isn't delivering a "poor me" message. This is a commendable, heroic woman and should be so proud of herself. What a true inspiration.

This video helped me understand that I had as child and still do BPD. I had lack of validation, I lost sense of identity, I clanged to people, I copied their styles and looks, I was bored out of my mind and extremely lonely. I felt nobody could understand me, so I never ever talked to anyone about my anxiety and panic attacks till I was old enough to realize what was happening to me. I’m on antidepressants for 10 years now, it’s helping me. But now I know that I have BPD, it makes sense to me.

I love holly , I got to sit and talk with her some when she spoke at a survivors awareness function . She is the bravest person , so humble and so living and lovable . It’s always been so crazy to me how strong these women are and having one convo with them it’s like they are giving u strength and they don’t even know the positive influence they have just telling their stories . We love u and ty for ALL u have done and continue to do ! ❤️

Very well articulated Holly. I'm confused about why you think your parents were so great, when clearly they weren't: farmed you out to relatives/ didn't spot abuse/ told you never to mention abuse/ told you to lie to social worker!!! They set you up for a fall and were utterly selfish. You, however, are an inspiration DESPITE your family.

Even when grown women are hookers, and people say "they are adult it's their choice"; I think in 99% of the cases, these women have poor boundaries because they have been abused. No one really chooses that lifestyle if they know any better and they have healthy self-esteem.

Holly, you are stronger than you know. Some of us are still silent. The police when I tried made me feel like I was the problem and scared me. I just pushed through, but I'm not well. I'm 37 and still stuck in those years emotionally. Watching things like this helps so much. Thank you.

You are sharing your strength, telling your story and helping other girls. AMAZING. May we all, as parents, NEVER let another child suffer like this.

Thank you for sharing your story Holly, you are very brave.

Thank you so much for your heart wrenching story. You are a beautiful and intelligent young lady. You should be proud of yourself.

Thank you for being so brave and sharing this. I’m sorry that you were not protected. Sending much love 🙏

Holly, you are well spoken, intelligent, and I am amazed by you. You are triumphant. Sharing your story will help so many young women.

I couldn't finish this video , because almost the same thing happened to me , and I try not to relive it ....but , it NEVER goes away.

So much trauma perpetrated against this vibrant, lovely woman. The adults in her life, who were charged with protecting her and looking out for her best interest, failed horribly. What an incredible example of resilience.

I have struggled many years with my dark pain. I need to have a voice before the good Lord calls me home.🙏✝️

I had tears listening to you.... your life is not wasted. Your sharing has helped many and hopefully changed the system. I'm a survivor too

This is a system, a horrible pathetic and cruel system that runs on misfits. Early childhood abuse destroys the will to fight on a fundamental level.

Such a strong woman. Stay strong. Be well. Amazing.

She’s very good at explaining what happened and how it made her feel. Very brave.

I'm so proud of you for having the courage to speak your truth. The system failed you. I'm so sorry for the pain and wounds you have had to face and heal. I'm so thankful you are courageous and whole enough to tell your story.

Holly, I will keep you in my thoughts, every day. You deserve happiness, I hope you are able to find happiness and love in your life.

Holly, you are such a smart and beautiful person, thank you for having the courage to share your story and that you weren't satisfied with the system and how they leave victims without any proper counseling or avenues to repair their lives. You are a wonderful young woman and an inspiration for healing.

This was really informative. Perfect person to tell this story in the perfect way for people to REALLY get it. Thank you Holly.

Wow. We share the same exact story in regards of the cousin. It breaks my heart to think about all the other children who have suffered in silence as well.

Thank You SO very much for sharing your story. We all HAVE to learn to fight to END this insidious crime that IS continuing because of the ignorance of those who may have helped if more education was mainstream and up front for everyone to learn from a young age!!!! Thank You!!! May your life be empowered and wonderful from now to forever!!!YOU ARE STRONG!!! THANK YOU!!! 💜 Shelley

Her parents knew!

God bless you sweet soul. You are so brave. I am so proud of you. You are an inspiration. 🙏🙏🙏

My heart breaks for her and children like her 💕🙏

As a nation, we don't value children, we say we do but we don't. If we did, the legal system would be overhauled.

Because that man told her he reminded her of his granddaughter makes me think he did something to his granddaughter because that is just sick to say that and then proceed to do your nasty with the kid. Smh. I never was traffic but I have been molested and raped and manipulated so many times and when I finally spoke out, I didn't get the help I needed. Now older and listening to others is helping me to heal.

thank you for sharing your story of dark into light..

What an intelligent, articulate woman. The very definition of a survivor. What a dreadful experience she went through but so impressive that she can talk about it so clearly.

Holly, you are a bright light!

Just yesterday I sat my daughter down and spoke to her about sex trafficking. It's absolutely crazy. Preying on the innocent and messed up children. She endured so, so much and she is still so confused.

When I asked my mom why she left me with a molester, she said it happened to her at that age and I was too sassy so to knock me down a peg it had to happen to me too. She said I ruined her childhood by being born and wish she never had me.

Holly, So glad you are still here, with us. Hope you are finding happiness in your life........ Thanks, Great to hear you.

You never told your parents because you didn't trust them based on their deadbeat parenting.

You are so very articulate. Thank you for sharing your story. You are helping more people than you will ever know. Bless you.💜💜💜💜

You are so awesome at explaining your own Trauma. You should be verrrrry proud of how far you have come.

As more survival stories i listened, i see one similar patern where the braking point is mothers denial

Its the Parents failure .... Poor, poor Girl. God, she's an Angel too !

Thank you Holly for sharing your story with us.

I´m so glad that you were able to get out, find answers to what you lived, and get prepared to help others ! It´s so incredible that this is still happening and adults don`t see it ... ( Madrid Spain )

Shame on those women that are “trainers “ on getting these girls “ready”

She's an amazing story teller! God Bless her!

Stop giving ur parents a break. They really messed up.

I'm deeply hurt that your mum, a woman told you to be quiet about it. I'm so sorry. I'm really grateful you shared your story because it shines a light on this sickness in our society, it's more common then we care to admit.

Abused children are often groomed by their parents, or an older sibling, to protect everyone in the family but themselves. So eloquent and brave, thankyou for sharing.