Every 10 Seconds

There are many “hot” topics today, one being sex trafficking. But like so many of these arenas we can quickly get lost in the facts and statistics and forget that each one of these pieces of information represents an individual who has been exploited. Exploitation comes in many forms and when it comes to sex trafficking some of those who are worst off are children. April is National Child Abuse Awareness Month and with abuse at a high, it makes sense to highlight this issue right now. Every 10 seconds a report is made about child abuse in the United States (according to Child Help). Every 10 seconds. Many of those who are trafficked will tell you that it all began with abuse, and often it was inflicted by someone who was seen as “trustworthy”, whether that be a guardian, a family member, or a friend’s parent. So let’s talk about one of the roots of trafficking: child abuse. You see there are many children living in homes of instability, where they walk on egg shells not knowing what sort of reaction they might receive for doing well in school, not being home on time, or for doing something “out of the ordinary.” They might also be in a position where they consistently anticipate a sexual act or a violent response, hence staying silent and not letting anyone in on their home life. If we continue on the thread of things being unstable another aspect to look at is the foster care system and how many times it sets kids up for failure. There are many incredible foster parents who love tirelessly on children who came from backgrounds of hopelessness. However, there are many children within the system who have had horrific experiences both through temporary housing situations or from their families. Blood family many times wins the foster care cases in the court system, and while there has to be something like this in place, the amount of children that are placed in homes that are less than satisfactory is astronomical. Teachers, nurses, and flight attendants are some of those on the front lines to notice that abuse and/or child trafficking is going on. But what if we trained children on the signs to look out for? Children have one of the greatest avenues of reporting what is happening, because they are a child. We’re scared of telling children too much because we don’t want them to be afraid, but we all have children present in our lives and have opportunities to teach them. Instead of viewing it as children becoming fearful and living on edge, what if it actually made them more courageous, because you told them how lives are being preserved and that they can be a part of the solution. Sometimes the simplest actions can be the very things that create the biggest impact. You hear stories of people who were going to commit suicide but someone simply stopped and took time to smile or talk with them and it completely changed the outcome. Let’s help make the newest generation aware and vocal about abuse. Silence is the enemy. Things to teach your child: 1. Encourage them to befriend the lonely child at school 2. To be aware of bruises on their friends and to ask how they got them 3. Trusting their gut, if they feel that something is off, it probably is 4,. To not keep secrets. According to a therapist: “privacy is good but secrecy is not”. 5. If they hear about a parent/guardian hitting someone, or emotionally/sexually being abusive to come have a conversation with you or their teacher. For the rest of this month (and continued on) may we focus our time, attention, and prayers to the children in our nation who are in a pit of hopelessness, struggling to make sense of the trauma they are dealing with, and feeling that this is all there is to their life. Use the wisdom and position that you have to show children that abuse will not be tolerated and that you hold them in high regard. Who knows if a child’s future will be altered because you weren’t afraid to share the truth?