Monique Smith’s Extraordinary Journey: From Abducted Child to Advocate
Lifetime’s film Not My Family: The Monique Smith Story was inspired by Monique Smith’s life. She was abused as a child by the people she believed were her family, but she learned at nearly 30 that she had been taken as a one-year-old.
Born as Simboli Ruffin, she has devoted decades to discovering her true self and finding her biological family. Today, Smith is using her story to raise awareness of child abduction and human trafficking. A message of hope and a reminder that her resilience helped others survive and even saved kids in family members’ care.
A Childhood Marked By Abuse
Monique Smith grew up in West Baltimore, facing daily abuse no child should ever face. The woman who she thought was her mother routinely assaulted her, often for the most trivial reasons. Even worse, one of her uncles sexually abused her for years, Smith reports.
“I was sexually abused at three and four, up to the age of 18, by members of the family,” Smith said in a recent interview. So cruel that Smith remembers getting beaten “because it was raining.”
As is the case with many abuse victims, Smith did not immediately realize that what was happening to her was wrong. She concentrated on survival, trying not to “disturb the environment” so that no further damage would be done. When she did attempt to tell someone about the abuse at 15, displaying bruises on her back and the two-by-four used to hit her, the witness walked away without offering to help.
Smith ran away to Florida at the age of 18 to begin anew. A marriage followed her sex work, though that marriage did subsequently end in divorce. But Smith was building a better future for herself despite these obstacles. She attended Walbrook High School and then the University of Baltimore, laying the groundwork for her career.
The Shocking Discovery
Smith, in her late 20s, started questioning her identity after the woman who raised her repeatedly refused to give her a copy of her birth certificate. Without this document, Smith would not have been able to join the Marines, be a police officer, or attend college.
She had spent years working at Johns Hopkins Hospital reviewing medical claims and “just praying every day they weren’t going to ask for an ID.” Smith’s pursuit of her birth certificate made frightening discoveries.
Her mother had applied for multiple replacement Social Security cards under multiple names. She could not tell her family members where she was born or identify her father.
The truth eventually emerged, at around 30: Smith had been kidnapped from New York when she was one. The woman who brought her up — and abused her — was not her biological mother.
This news rocked Smith’s world and explained why she had always felt “out of place” in her family. This woman had taken me away from New York when I was one,” Smith said. When confron ed, her abductor was brutal: “I’m going to my grave before you know a damn thing.
Finding Her True Identity
This series of obstacles led Smith on her journey to discovering her true identity. She called the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, saying, “I’m a missing kid. I’m just all grown up.” They gave her Missing Child Number 1201258.
Smith eventually found out, with the help of a Maryland detective and the genetic genealogist CeCe Moore, that her birth mother was Margaret Conyers, who had seven children with seven different men before dying of a drug overdose at the age of 34. DNA analysis confirmed Smith’s biological ties, uncovering six sisters she never knew.
Smith: “And on October 30, 2020, finally, I got a birth certificate, the one showing my name: Simboli Ruffin. She was dubbed “The Longest Living Jane Doe,” a title that eventually lent its name to her documentary.
Asked whether getting her birth certificate made a difference, Smith said, “Actually no. I was searching for so long that I got to the point that a piece of paper meant nothing to me anymore.” She already had a life built outside the document she had spent decades searching for.
Advocacy Work & Professional Success
Despite her traumatic experience, Monique Smith has reached a phenomenal level of professional success. Her first book, “I Am The Ancestor: Before I Die I Must Tell My Story,” was published in 2011 and followed by a sequel, “I Am The Ancestor Volume II.”
Her first book was included in the archival collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Smith plays many professional roles—an author, business adviser, life coach, and public speaker.
As executive director of her documentary short film, “The Longest Living Jane Doe,” she raised awareness of human trafficking and child abuse in 2019. According to her reports, she has also worked at Bird of Paradise Events and as President/CEO of The Ultimate Concierge, LLC.
But her most important work has been raising awareness for missing children and human trafficking victims. She founded an organization called Known as Monique in 2013 to help try to prevent child abductions, as well as to make it easier to find missing children.
Smith has worked with the Center for Missing and Exploited Children and, in 2018, hosted Maryland’s First Annual Missing Person Day.
Smith is also involved with many non-profit organizations, including Angels of Addiction Street Outreach Ministry and Loving Arms, LLC. In January 2 25, she joined forces with Your Infinite Paths Foundation for a successful screening of her documentary as part of National Human Trafficking Awareness Month.
Lyndon B. Johnson’s Family Life And Background
Smith has a complicated relationship with her past. She is in to ch with only one member of the family that raised her — who was horrified to hear about the abuse Smith endured at the hands of family members.
Smith has met all six of her biological sisters, and she said they’re not particularly close. “We all know each other. You know, we can contact each other,” she explains. In 2024, when she got her passport, Smith decided to visit her blood relatives for the first time.
Today, Smith is the mother of Julia Harrington and a son. Even though she’s busy with advocacy work and public speaking, she takes the time to spend with her children and continues to create the loving family environment that she was not given as a child.
Turning Pain Into Purpose
Her greatest accomplishment is her resilience in the face of extreme adversity. Instead of letting her painful past determine her present, she turned her pain into purpose.
“That pain, I take it and turn it into purpose,” Smith says. “There are many kids who are getting sexually abused, they are being physically abused, they are being mentally abused — they are getting abducted and trafficked.
She recognizes that healing is not a one-time event: “People say, ‘You need to heal,’ but you can’t dictate the timeline that it takes people to heal. In my case, it’s a lifetime. It’s for lif .”
When speaking to young people in schools and youth programs, Smith tells them to “tell and tell until people are believing you.” She says bystander intervention is critical, and if you witness abuse, you should intervene if you can or at least report it (even anonymously) to help protect vulnerable children.
Smith’s mission is clear: “I couldn’t prevent what happened to me, and I can’t change my past. But if I can ensure that there’s justice for other people, that’s justice for me.”
Growing Awareness And The Lifetime Movie
On April 12, 2025, Lifetime aired a documentary titled “Not My Family: The Monique Smith Story,” bringing Smith’s incredible journey into living rooms across the country. Starring Yay DaCosta, the movie dramatically recounts Smith’s realization of her true self and how she faced her past.
The film, part of Lifetime’s “Ripped from the Headlines” slate, premieres at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT. It can also be streamed by those without cable via Philo TV, which offers a seven-day free trial.
In a recent live interview on Fox 5 Atlanta with Tailiah Breon, Smith said she believes the Lifetime film shines a light on elements close to her heart and calling. She hopes the film will raise awareness of child abduction and human trafficking and inspire other survivors to get help and healing.
FAQ
Q: How did Monique Smith learn that she was abducted?
A: Smith said suspicion first arose when the woman she thought was her mother refused to show her a birth certificate. Through the investigation, she found discrepancies in her documentation and eventually discovered she had been abducted from New York at the age of one.
Q: What is Monique Smith up to these days?
A: Smith is an author, business consultant, life coach, and advocate for missing children and victims of human trafficking. She runs Monique, an organization, and works with many non-profit organizations.
Q: How many brothers and sisters Monique Smith has?
A: Smith found out she has six biological sisters, the result of her birth mother having seven children by seven different men.
Q: Does Monique Smith have a published book?
A: Yes, Smith authored two books: “I Am The Ancestor: Before I Die I Must Tell My Story” and “I Am The Ancestor Volume II.” Her first book is in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture archives.
Q: Where can I watch “Not My Family: The Monique Smith Story”?
A: When did the Lifetime movie air, and how can I watch it? It’s available to stream on Philo TV with a seven-day free trial period, and its airings on the Lifetime channel can be viewed via cable providers.
Final Words
A former kidnapped child symbolizes the strength of Monique Smith’s journey from an abducted kid to a prosperous advocate. After years of abuse, she took off and starved this dilapidated bastard, dedicating her life to helping other people. Smith calls on those who have been victims of abuse to share their stories until someone listens and on witnesses to act to protect poor children.
As she puts it, “Everyone should be a social responsibility agent… We’re all in this together.” Through her advocacy work, public speaking, and a Lifetime movie based on her life, Smith has been raising awareness around the issue of child abduction and human trafficking.
She wants to make the world a place where fewer children have to experience what she did. Smith says self-love is essential for the beaten-down: “You’ve got to know what makes you happy.” By finding a way to help others, she has turned her tragedy into a force for good.
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