DEAR ABBY: I’m 19 and my sister is 16. We have been working as prostitutes here in our state and in several nearby ones. We know we need help, but we are afraid to ask for it. Hotlines and trafficking programs have called the police on friends of ours who reached out for help. How can we get help without being forced to testify against my boyfriend and our other friends? – TERI
DEAR TERI: I’m glad you wrote because there is help for you. Contact an organization called Children of the Night. It has helped thousands of young people like you and your sister. Its toll-free phone number is 1-800-551-1300, ext. 0, and it is staffed 24/7.
Children of the Night is privately funded and does not call the police on sex-trafficking victims. Once away from “the life,” you and your sister will be able to study for your high school diploma online by emailing wow@childrenofthenight.org. If you would like more information, please visit www.childrenofthenight.org and see for yourself. I wish you luck and an easy escape from “the life.” You and your sister are in my thoughts and prayers.
DEAR ABBY: I have a dilemma, and I need to know who’s right. My boyfriend of two and a half years wants me to move into his apartment, but he says I can’t live there for free. He wants me to pay half the rent, cable, water and electric bills. I’m OK with the cable, water and electric. But I say the rent is the same whether I’m there or not, and I don’t think I should have to pay rent on HIS place. It would be different if we were married. What do you think? Who’s right? – MAYBE MOVING IN
DEAR MAYBE: You are an independent young woman living in the 21st century, and as such, you should carry your share. That the two of you are not married is even more reason why you should share the cost of the rent.