Shared Hope: Rescuing Children from Sex Trafficking

Linda Smith is the founder and president of Shared Hope International, a ministry whose mission is to rescue and restore women and children enslaved in sex trafficking. In 1998, while serving in the U.S. Congress, she traveled to a notorious brothel district in India where the hopeless faces of women and children forced into prostitution compelled her to found Shared Hope International. Linda has testified before the U.S. Congress, spoken at national and international forums, and has been published in news outlets and journals. She is the author of From Congress to the Brothel, and Renting Lacy. Linda also co-authored The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking and The Demand Report. Linda and her late husband, Vern, have two grown children and several grandchildren.