If you had to list the top three things that make you worry when you think about your children’s future, I’m guessing that sex trafficking isn’t one of them.
It wasn’t on my radar either until we had someone from BE FREE Dayton come and discuss this topic with our moms group at church. [quote] To me, sex trafficking is something that is happening on the other side of the world, but this isn’t the case. [/quote] In fact, I talked with Heidi, the CEO of BE FREE Dayton, and she informed me that “A child between the ages of 12-18 is four times more likely to be trafficked for sex in the Miami Valley than to die in a car accident or be abducted by a stranger combined.” Is that not frightening? I mean, how many of us make sure to secure our children safely in car seats but never think to educate our children about sex trafficking?
Here are some other stats and information Heidi shared with me:
- Every year in Ohio, 3,000 children are identified as being at high risk for sex trafficking and an estimated 1,078 children are sold for sex.
- Sex trafficking often appears as “voluntary” prostitution, but research indicates most adults in the sex industry are child victims who were never rescued from their abuser or molester.
- The average age of entry into sex trafficking in the United States for males is 11-13 years old,
while it is 12-14 years old for females. - One in three runaway youths will be approached by a trafficker within the first 48 hours of being on the
streets. - Eighty percent of the youth in the Miami Valley are recruited in middle class or higher homes—this is an issue that effects everybody in the community no matter where you live.
This is scary stuff, isn’t it? The issue of sex trafficking is not just an issue in a country half way across the world, it is an issue in our own community! Thankfully, I didn’t just provide you with these scary statistics and not have a solution. BE FREE Dayton has been working to abolish sex trafficking in the Miami Valley since 2013.
BE FREE works to end sex trafficking by addressing the before, during and after phase through education, outreach, demand reduction and research. During the before phase, BE FREE provides free trainings to both adults and youth that center around awareness and education.
There is a FREEus outreach program whose goal is to outreach to current victims by meeting them where they are, deterrence, and locating missing children. FREEus provides community partners with resources to recognize, report, and reach current victims of sex trafficking. In the after phase, BE FREE’s research department collects area-specific data on sex trafficking in the Miami Valley. BE FREE Dayton also works with partner organizations who provide aftercare support for survivors of sex trafficking to ensure they receive comprehensive services to promote healing, restoration, practical life skills, and mentoring.
So what can you do to protect your children? I’m glad you asked! BE FREE provided some things you can do to help keep your children safe.
- Be Aware. Children are inundated with sexual messaging daily: through music, books and magazines, toys, television programs, movies, and video games.
- Set Boundaries. In all the areas listed above. Especially become familiar with social media platforms, as they are one of the many tools used by traffickers to recruit children into the sex industry.
- Know Your Child. Identify and evaluate abnormal emotional, physical, psychological, and social behaviors to determine if they are red flags for sex trafficking. Common red flags include the following:
- Fake I.D./lying about age
- Signs of physical or sexual abuse
- Recurring STDʼS or need for pregnancy tests/abortions
- Lying or inconsistencies in someone’s story
- Frequent running away/numerous school absences
- Appearing to be on drugs
- Individual with two cell phones
- Wads of cash on hand
- Individual with “go bag” or all their belongings in a plastic bag
- Someone not familiar with their surroundings
- Tattoo/brand often on the neck, chest, thigh or ankle
Do you feel called to action? Great! BE FREE could use people just like you! Here is how you can help:
- BE FREE Dayton is 100% volunteer operated. Examples of volunteer opportunities are: national outreach organization and execution, local monthly outreach teams, public educators and advocacy, office workers and administrators.
- BE FREE Dayton is funded through individual donors. Any monetary gift, or a fundraiser hosted on behalf of the organization, is a wonderful way to support abolition in the Miami Valley. BE FREE Dayton’s capital campaign, “Homes for Healing,” will provide a safe place for women leaving the sex industry to live. Donations are accepted and appreciated.
Have you brought up the topic of sex trafficking with your children? Do you plan to?
It really is hard to believe…mainly because we don’t want to believe it could be. Yikes.
What would you say would be the very first call to action if we ever suspect this is going on (thanks for the list of signs…very interesting!). We need the tools in our toolbox of knowledge on what to do next before we run across this, and not after.
My first reaction would be to call BE FREE to see what next steps would be and to verify that what I think are warning signs are legit!
This is such a great article!
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