Learn about Trafficking Issues in America

August 25, 2011

Freedom Youth Project Foundation is an anti human-trafficking organization based in San Antonio, TX. American children are being forced and manipulated into Human Trafficking at an alarming rate. The U.S. Dept. of Justice estimates our nation has over 100,000 new victims each year which targets children from all socio-economic backgrounds as young as 9 yrs old. This crime occurs all over our nation in both large urban areas and small rural areas. Minors are coerced, mostly through violence, to work in child pornography, strip clubs and brothels by human traffickers.

The aftermath of this crime leaves behind a trail of victims with severe trauma and a host of psychological and medical issues. These issues make it impossible to return a victim back to their home without treatment. Most are brainwashed, have multiple chemical and behavioral addiction issues, and are severe flight risks to return back to the predator who trafficked them.

Up to 98 percent of Victims are in Need of Basic Amenities for Survival

The National Institute of Justice reported that 96-98% of domestic minor sex trafficking victims are in need of basic shelter.

Though many states have implemented legislative changes, there is still a lot to be done to better understand victim needs in terms of shelter and after care.

Shared Hope International States:

“Victims of domestic minor sex trafficking are frequently processed as juvenile delinquents or adult prostitutes. Prostituted juveniles are trained by their trafficker/pimp to lie to authorities and are provided with excellent fraudulent identification resulting in their registration in the arrest records as an adult… Due to the unique trauma bonding that occurs between a victim and her trafficker, these children often run from juvenile facilities right back to the person that exploited them.”

Freedom Youth Project hopes to play a part in ending this shelter crisis, so that not only will the statistics lower, but treatment for victims will be extremely effective and can put them on their way to leading successful lives.

Read the Full Article Here

Shelter in Utah Forced to Close Trafficking Treatment Program Down

Salk Lake City, UT -

The Utah Health and Human Rights Project [UHHR], which works with victims of violent crime and human rights abuses, informed the law enforcement and legal services community yesterday it was closing down its human trafficking assistance program.

UHHR began treating victims of human trafficking in their shelter, until they started receiving violent threats from the victims. Because of this, they were forced to stop taking referrals for trafficked victims.

UHHR will continue to work with tortured victims, though they will omit their program for trafficked victims. Because of the dangerous threats they received, and the lack of support for this program, they are hoping to focus on research for a future shelter.

Other initiatives in the United States to house these victims have encountered similar problems, as the problem of Human Trafficking is complex care for these victims requires a deep understanding of the issue and victims needs.

Read the Full Article Here

Victims of Child Sex Trafficking are Typically Arrested instead of Rescued

There are so many things wrong with the crime of Child Sex-Trafficking.  American girls in the U.S. are typically  victimized and enslaved into Sex-Trafficking at age 12 to 14, have a life expectancy of 7 years.   But, what happens when these children are recovered is a sad state of our current system of laws, and victim services.

The U.S. is a nation with about 300,000 victims per year of this crime, and there are less than 300 beds in the entire nation with treatment for these victims. Victims, when rescued, have many complex and interconnected problems such as brain washing, Stockholm Syndrome, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Anxiety Disorders, STD’s, and a multitude of other medical, nutritional and behavioral issues. The level of treatment requires a highly coordinated  multidisciplinary approach which includes doctors, nurses, case managers social workers, and therapists among others.

Most victims have a high degree of flight risk to return back to their pimp.  They are not capable of returning home without months, sometimes years of treatment, therapy to address the self-destructive pattern that has been ingrained in them.

Because treatment facilities don't exist, often rescue means incarceration without treatment.  Because some states laws have not yet been modified to recognize them as a victim, many are prosecuted for prostitution.

Read More Here

Why Can't She Go Home?

She is part of a growing statistic in the U.S. (About 100,000 per year). She is a 14 year old victim of human sex-trafficking known as Domestic Minor Sex-Trafficking. She was forced into prostitution at the age of 12. She has been subjected to extreme violence and has received death threats from her captors on a daily basis. Sadly, she has seen many girls her own age die (the average lifespan of these young girls is 7 years after they are abducted). She has been forced to work upwards of 20 hours a day, with little to no pay. She is usually addicted to drugs and a high adrenaline lifestyle. Most likely, she has started viewing her captors as "family" and has been brainwashed into thinking that she is in love with her pimp.

The only escape many of these girls have is death. If a girl gets rescued, she is a flight-risk to run-away so that she can return to her pimp, or to offer herself to another one who will take her. She does this out of desperation. Pimps are the only people who have offered her what she has been brainwashed to believe is  "love" and "protection."  Because there are so few treatment facilities, rescue for her is the equivalent of jail to you and me.  It does not come with treatment for her trauma.

In the United States there are about 300,000 Americans at risk and 100,000 victims each year, yet there are only about 500 beds nationwide at facilities with specific care for these kinds of victims of Domestic Minor Sex-Trafficking. The primary target of traffickers are teens age 12-14 years old,

Who is she? She is the girl next door. She comes from all socioeconomic backgrounds.

Unfortunately, if she is rescued in almost any community in the U.S., one of two things will happen to her. She will either be incarcerated or she will return to her pimp. Any attempt to return her to her family will fail without qualified treatment. Help us to bring qualified treatment options to this ailing nation. Help us be a catalyst to putting an end to the shelter crisis in the U.S.





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Think Freedom Campaign is an initiative of Freedom Youth Project Foundation