Growing up in a small South Georgia town, Dorsey Laquan Jones overcame horrific challenges few people can comprehend. Following her father’s drowning, Dorsey was abandoned by her own mother and cast into poverty and homelessness, all while trying to keep her five younger siblings clothed and fed. A bad situation grew immeasurably worse when neighborhood men began abusing Dorsey, ensnaring her in a cycle of sexual exploitation that inflicts too many young girls today but is too often ignored. Nevertheless, Dorsey escaped, and after years of perseverance, she’s forged a career as a powerful public speaker, author, and one of Georgia’s most compassionate and impactful juvenile advocates.
After doggedly working to gain acceptance to Atlanta’s Morris Brown College, Dorsey graduated with a bachelors degree in criminal justice, which led to her role as probation officer with Fulton County Juvenile Court. An even greater opportunity to serve out her passion for rescuing young girls came with youthSpark, a nonprofit safehouse for the exploited and vulnerable. In her current role as youthSpark case manager, Dorsey encounters girls who echo the trapped youth she used to be. And they often follow in her footsteps, discovering their true potential.
In her memoir, “The Angels Were Crying: Stretched Beyond Measure”, Dorsey takes readers on the journey of a little girl whose deplorable living conditions caused her to run away from home, hitchhiking across states at age 12, looking for her father’s family. It’s the story of a scared, humble, yet tough girl, who was finally rescued by her “Angels” in the face of hunger, homelessness, and attempted suicide. Dorsey has recounted her story for hundreds of rapt audiences across the country, in venues ranging from churches to huge conferences and corporate gatherings. In recent years, she’s been featured in a CNN segment on sex trafficking, profiled by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and interviewed on radio and television across Georgia.
Today, Dorsey devotes herself to her husband Carlos, her four children, her beloved Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and exploited runaway children. She’s turned her own tragedy into triumph, and in doing so, she’s emerged as an Angel to so many lost girls and other youth.