{"id":27078,"date":"2020-09-03T10:49:51","date_gmt":"2020-09-03T15:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/?p=27078"},"modified":"2020-09-03T10:49:55","modified_gmt":"2020-09-03T15:49:55","slug":"elephant-in-the-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/elephant-in-the-room","title":{"rendered":"Elephant in the Room"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[This article originally appeared in SALVO (www.salvomag.com<\/a>) on September 2, 2020; it is reproduced here with permission. \u2013 Ed.]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reports out of Georgia and now Ohio this week have highlighted just how widespread and serious the issue of child trafficking is today in the United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Georgia case, U.S. Marshalls rescued 39 children<\/a> last week in \u201cOperation Not Forgotten.\u201d Of these, the Marshalls reported, about 15 are alleged to have been victims of sex trafficking, some were runaways, and one was a parental custody case. The children were all considered \u201ccritically missing\u201d and at-risk. They were found across several different states. Also last week, the U.S. Marshalls announced the recovery of 25 missing children in Ohio<\/a>, between the ages of 13 and 18, about a quarter of whom are believed to have been victims of trafficking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are some startling numbers, but the sad truth is that they represent but the tip of a Titanic-sinking-size iceberg. Over 300,000 children in the United States are considered \u201cat risk of child exploitation,\u201d according to a Business Insider<\/em> report<\/a>. And most stories highlighting \u201cwhat you should know about child trafficking\u201d emphasize that it is generally family and friends\u2014not the stranger with the white cargo van in the parking lot\u2014who first put children into harm\u2019s way. Such \u201cfamily and friends\u201d do so for money, or reduction in rent, or transportation, or drugs. If the reader paid attention to such stories alone, he might walk away thinking that families represent the gravest danger to children when it comes to sex trafficking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But such reports ignore some crucial realities. According to the same Business Insider<\/em> report, children in foster care are most at-risk of falling into trafficking. In another study<\/a> focusing on the sex trade in San Diego county, \u201clack of parental involvement\u201d and \u201ckinship care\u201d were factors associated with a high number of cases. \u201cThe foster care system is at a huge risk for human trafficking,\u201d reported<\/a> San Diego County DA Summer Stephan, as are runaways and homeless children and teens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But really, the problem when it comes to child trafficking and exploitation is not family per se, but rather fragility or broken <\/em>families.Decadesof research have proven that the married, two-parent family has always protected children better than any other family form. As Brad Wilcox has summarized, \u201cgirls and boys are significantly more likely to be abused when they are living in a cohabiting household with an unrelated adult\u2014usually their mother\u2019s boyfriend.\u201d Wilcox quotes the Fourth Annual Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect<\/a>, which finds, \u201conly 0.7 per 1,000 children living with two married biological parents were sexually abused, compared to 12.1 per 1,000 children living with a single parent who had an unmarried partner.\u201d The study continues, \u201cCompared to children living with married biological parents, those whose single parent had a live-in partner had more than 8 times the rate of maltreatment overall, over 10 times the rate of abuse, and nearly 8 times the rate of neglect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what does it say that child trafficking is at such a high right now? American families are broken, and far too many children are slipping through the cracks. When these children find themselves in homes with one biological parents and one stepparent, or passed around through extended families, or put into foster care\u2014it becomes far easier for ill-intentioned adults to take advantage of them than if they had been raised by their biological, married parents. And with recent statistics indicating that only one in every two<\/a> American children is raised by his or her biological parents, it should come as no surprise that the U.S. is one of the worst places for child trafficking in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. Marshalls should be commended\u2014they saved over 50 children this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But to what kind of home will these children return?
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Truth About Child Trafficking<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":27079,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"The Truth About Child Trafficking","format":"standard","video":"","gallery":"","source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override":[{"single_blog_custom":"","sidebar":"","second_sidebar":"","share_position":"","share_float_style":"","post_date_format":"","post_date_format_custom":"","post_reading_time_wpm":"","zoom_button_out_step":"1","zoom_button_in_step":"1","number_popup_post":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"","single_post_gallery_size":""}],"trending_post_position":"","trending_post_label":""},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[804,510,805],"tags":[5477],"class_list":["post-27078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-family","category-foreground","tag-trafficking"],"yoast_head":"\nElephant in the Room - 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