Dollar-for-dollar, human trafficking in America is far worse than it is overseas. It is a market that is growing exponentially, putting $975 million in the pockets of human traffickers every year.
Every 2.5 hours, a child is taken by human traffickers. Seven years is the average lifespan of a child victim once taken. Ninety-six percent of trafficking victims are female. Every trafficked child is purchased for sex 5.4 times a day.
Human traffickers use any tool available to them to connect with potential victims. Contrary to popular belief, these predators rarely kidnap victims but rather employ psychological manipulation to get what they want, such as social media, video gaming consoles, and chat rooms. The traffickers often search for specific characteristics that make a victim the most vulnerable. This includes emotional neediness, low self-confidence, and economic stress.
While looking for their role in a victim’s life, traffickers work to obtain the trust from the victim through casual conversations over weeks and sometimes over months. Traffickers also send their current victims to interact with potential victims to gain trust. These girls essentially act as scouts for the trafficker.
The traffickers utilize the information they gathered to fill a role in the victim’s life. Through gifts, love, friendship, drugs, or alcohol, traffickers force the victims into a dependent relationship. With their new role in the victim’s life, traffickers wedge themselves between the victim and those closest to them–their friends and family.
This week’s story is a courageous conversation with the mother of a human trafficking victim who was blessed to retrieve her daughter from today’s current slave trade.
Click below and learn things. Listen with your heart.
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Until next time, remember,-
You are not alone.
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You are not your circumstances.
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You have everything within you to live a purpose-filled life.