Today, February 27th, is the End It Movement’s day to Shine A Light on Slavery. Folks go around with red x’s on their hands, and share photos on Facebook, Twitter and Insta. I’ve written about human trafficking before here and here. This time, I want to tell you what organizations are working to help kids after they have been trafficked.
In high school, I ran debate cases about human trafficking. The focus was mainly on victims in India and Russia. But the problem is vast in the United States as well. The Global Slavery Index estimates there are 29 million slaves throughout the world. The State Department says up to 17,500 are trafficked into the U.S. each year. I know that my hometown of Sacramento is a hub for human trafficking, and the city of Steubenville suffers from it as well. I’ve written before about the problem. But what is being done to help survivors in the aftermath?
The majority of modern day slaves are children. They are more likely to suffer from mental health problems, substance abuse addictions, and experience violent crime. They are also more likely to commit violent crimes and return to prostitution as adults.
The suffering of these children is precisely why we need to fund shelters. Foster care and children’s homes often lack the resources to rehabilitate these boys and girls from the severe traumas they experienced. Sometimes the children will run away and lead other kids with them. Eventually, law enforcement has no choice but to charge them with prostitution and put them in juvenile hall. This is so sad because the kids did not choose prostitution. They are the victims but are often treated as the criminals.
Luckily, non-profits are opening up more and more shelters for these children. Organizations like Courage Worldwide and Beauty from Ashes will house them and treat their physical and emotional wounds. These are just a couple of the shelters that work for survivors of human trafficking. They provide education, vocational training, trauma therapy as well as art and equine therapies, legal assistance, and a safe, caring place to stay. They provide hope to children who have had very little of it before.
These survivors will be given the tools to take back their lives and live normally. They are also empowered to prosecute their traffickers. This is a very important part of the process. If we remove the trafficker from the cog of the machine, fewer children will be victimized in the future.
However, there are currently only about 150 beds for the thousands of children trafficked. What is stopping this process right now? It is the lack of funds. The constant awareness campaigns by A21, End It, Polaris Project, International Justice Mission, Love146, and countless other organizations are bringing this problem to the public’s consciousness. But the need for funding of shelters remains.
So, if you just found some money inside your couch, made a few more bucks in tips, or got a lot of money from granny for your birthday, maybe you can spare a few for kids who need it. You may know of a shelter in your area that would welcome your assistance. You won’t regret it.
Flood The World 