Child Trafficking Resources
Now that everyone is outraged about the trafficking of children, I thought it would be helpful to talk about some of the things that can actually be done.
The keyboard warriors have their receipts, but there’s this thing you might have heard of, called “probable cause,” and we don’t get that from a Russian search engine. Nor do we get it from a preponderance of coincidences or screenshots.
The truth of child trafficking is even more heartbreaking than you could possibly imagine.
In the United States, close to half a million children go missing every year. Nearly half of those are abducted by family members, and many are never even reported as missing.
There are no worldwide numbers, because many countries don’t even keep a database of missing children. That’s how extensive this problem is.
Many Americans are familiar with the AMBER Alert system, developed in cooperation with local law enforcement and broadcasting networks. The AMBER alert system is VOLUNTARY (and has not been adopted nationwide), but since its initial deployment in 2006, it has led to the successful rescue of 988 children.
Now, I’m no good at math, but I’m pretty sure that’s less than 1000 children recovered in the same period of time that nearly 7 MILLION children have potentially gone missing. So, don’t pat yourselves too hard on the back for that one. We won’t even talk about how much they cost, and I mean that in the most literal sense. Because it’s multijurisdictional, funds are allocated from a variety of sources, and figuring out how much we are actually spending on a single AMBER Alert is next to impossible. Not to mention that these cases are nearly all familial abductions, not trafficking cases.
And it gets worse.
According to Operation Underground Railroad, the average rescue mission costs between 50–75k, to save as many as fifty children. Usually, it’s significantly less.
And who is Operation Underground Railroad, you ask? Ah, well that’s a fantastic question, and I’ll get there in just a minute. You see, trafficking is considered a federal crime because it typically crosses state lines, which means that it falls under the purview of the Justice Department.
Now, unless you’re very wonkish, reading interdepartmental fund allocation memos is probably not your idea of a good time, so I’ve done most of the work for you.
In 2019, the Justice Department awarded more than 100 million dollars to trafficking efforts, but, and this is key, 80% of that goes to resources for trafficking victims who HAVE ALREADY BEEN RECOVERED, including prosecution.
Because if we aren’t prosecuting the people like Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, then we aren’t solving the problem.
So, that means we have 20 million left, and of that, half goes to FINDING the victims of child trafficking, and the rest goes to SAVING them.
Now I’ve mentioned that I’m bad at math, but if you take 10 million dollars, and divide it by 50k (the lowest operational cost of executing a rescue as estimated by Operation Underground Railroad), that’s 2,000 ops a year. Multiply that by the highest estimated recovery rate of 50 children, and you have…10,000 children. And I really want to emphasize that those are the lowest cost estimates multiplied by the highest recovery estimates, because that means that 10,000 children recovered are the very best possible outcome.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that’s a lot less than half a million.
It’s also worth mentioning that the operational costs I’ve mentioned come from Operation Underground Railroad, and not the federal government. That’s important, but we’ll get there in a moment.
See, child trafficking is so prevalent, and the government so bad at recovering children, that Operation Underground Railroad is a privately funded task force.
If you’re an American, that should make you deeply, deeply uncomfortable, because we have a pretty storied history with privately funded security firms. (Unless you’ve forgotten Blackwater. It seems a lot of us have. We’ve definitely forgotten about Halliburton.)
And while OUR is listed with both Charity Navigator and Guidestar, they haven’t been around for long enough to have an actual rating.
What I want to highlight here is that, as a privately funded task force, they do not have the same restrictions as the federal government, which means their functional operational costs are probably a fraction of what the federal government has to spend in order to make sure that they are following all applicable laws in the rescue operation of trafficking victims.
I’m not saying they cut corners. I am saying they’re spending less.
So that pittance of 10 million dollars? It’s not saving even close to 10,000 kids.
Which brings us to what we’re really here for. And that is, what YOU can do.
The first, and most important, is to recognize the signs of trafficking.
The reality of child trafficking is that it is widespread, and everywhere.
You don’t have to order a child on Wayfair. You just have to head down to your local motel. You know the one. It’s where the addicts and the sex workers hang out, and you can rent rooms by the hour.
What? Too much reality for you?
The hard truth of this conversation is that you don’t have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to buy a child. One can be had by the hour for the cost of a dime bag.
Go to any major sporting event. Ask yourself why there are so many horse trailers and large RVs.
And if you’re concerned, you can report potential trafficking violations to the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
That’s right boys and girls, ICE is the department who is actually responsible for the reclamation of our missing children. Last I checked, they were…otherwise occupied (losing children, not finding them).
And I have to be real with you — as a brown American, I’m not fucking calling ICE for any reason.
So, what exactly are the signs of human trafficking?
Has the child stopped attending school? That’s an interesting question these days. Are they living in unsuitable conditions? Well, who isn’t?
Thankfully, the Department of Homeland Security created a helpful checklist for you, with printable wallet-sized cards that you can carry around, just in case you forget.
This might once have been a very helpful list of questions, like, does the person have access to a passport? And, does their movement appear restricted? (We’re definitely not gonna ask how much they spent putting this list of questions together though, because I might start crying.) It’s especially important to note that, “Not all indicators listed above are present in every human trafficking situation, and the presence or absence of any of the indicators is not necessarily proof of human trafficking.”
Clear as mud then? I thought so.
And if you’re about to throw your hands in the air in exasperation, well, welcome to the club, friends.
Because THIS is the reality of human trafficking.
It’s a much larger problem than you imagined, isn’t it?
So you wanna know what you can do?
Open your wallet.
The question is, to whom.
But honestly, your choices are pretty simple.
You can donate to future rescue operations, or you can donate to the foundations who are supporting those victims who have already been recovered.
The thing is, there’s not that many of them. When you look at very large service organizations or international funds, they aren’t doing this work. They simply don’t have the resources.
When UNICEF talks about what it’s doing to prevent childhood violence, they’re talking about domestic abuse. When the United Nations talks about trafficking, the best they have to offer are awareness campaigns.
So when you say, “We should investigate Wayfair!” I really challenge you to think that through. Who’s doing it? With what resources? And where could those resources have gone instead?
If you want to report suspected trafficking to an agency that is not ICE, you can call the National Human Trafficking Hotline, which is funded through an HHS grant. That number is 888–373–7888. (It will most likely be ICE showing up though, so be sure.)
If you want to donate to Operation Underground Railroad, you can do so here.
If you want to donate to an organization that works with local law enforcement, the Child Rescue Coalition designs software that tracks child predators and pornography, which has repeatedly led to arrests and rescue of captive children.
These are the local foundations that have been doing this work for a very long time. They have the existing resources, halfway houses, and operational processes for saving as many children as possible. Find the one closest to you, and see what you can do for them.
Because if it’s not blatantly obvious already, they need your help. They are doing all this work with a pittance of the funds necessary, and nearly all of it comes from donations.
They need you. They need your time, your resources, and definitely your money.
Ultimately, when we’re talking about trafficking, we’re talking about money.
We’ve been buying and selling human beings since the beginning of time. We have never stopped. (I haven’t even mentioned the disproportionate rate of Black and other minority trafficking victims, but that’s a reality we have to face too.)
There’s power in that monetary exchange. The only way to stop it is with more money.
So.
Put your money where your mouth is.
If you really care about these kids, then you know what you need to do.
Resources:
Rapid Emergency Child Alert Systems — Global Missing Children’s Network
Department of Justice Awards More than $100 Million to Combat Human Trafficking and Assist Victims
2019 Department of Justice Budget
Matrix Of OVC/BJA-Funded Human Trafficking Services Grantees And Task Forces
Operation Underground Railroad
Prevention, Prosection and Protection — Human Trafficking | United Nations
Child protection from violence, exploitation and abuse
National Human Trafficking Hotline
Global Report on Trafficking in Persons
An addendum: according to the NCIC (National Crime Information Center) database, most of the cases entered into the system are later deleted. Either the person is found (living or deceased), the circumstances for the listing change, etc. That leaves approximately 87k NCIC listings per year, half of which are children. That’s around 40,000 unrecovered children a year, or about a baseball stadium full of kids. h/t to Matt Hall for helping me figure out these numbers.
