So What's Going on in YOUR Neighborhood Middle School?

How about child trafficking? 

How about recruiters roaming the halls looking for kids?

How about kids themselves serving as recruiters?

It's happening--not just in schools in far-away countries but in your city and mine.

Yesterday I went to a meeting sponsored by the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking. Most of us who attended consider ourselves pretty informed about trafficking. After all, stopping the traffic is our passion.

We were in shock at what we heard from the Klaas Kids Foundation and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement:

• Child-trafficking recruiters work not only in colleges and high schools looking for kids, but now in middle schools--in your city and mine.

• Recruiters also work in malls, parks, and on playgrounds--in your city and mine.

• Once a child is enslaved, they can be forced to become recruiters in their own schools.

• The average age of a child who enters prostitution in the US is now 12 (down from 14 a few years ago). Remember, if 12 is the average age, there are kids even younger than that.

• The process traffickers use to ensnare kids and prepare them for sex slavery is called grooming. It's elaborate, calculated, manipulative, and (sadly) gets results.

• Domestic sex trafficking of minors involves organized rings of recruiters, groomers, security, trainers, watchers, and connectors.

• Human traffickers have very organized in-service training. There are national meetings with award ceremonies for pimps--often sponsored by well-known music artists.

Does that make you angry? Good. Get angry, please.  

Now here's what you can do about it:

1. Google "child trafficking" and your state. Find out who's making a difference and get involved.

2. Call your local newspaper and TV stations and ask them to do an investigative series on what's happening in your state or city. Ask them to focus not just on one story--but on child trafficking rings and how they operate.

3. Donate. Local organizations such as FCAHT and global organizations such as Born to Fly need money to stop the traffic. Without it, we might as well fold up shop.

4. Keep your eyes open. Most of the time when a child (or adult) is rescued from trafficking, it's because an ordinary citizen saw something that didn't look right and called the trafficking hotline: 888.3737.888.

5. Pray.

If you'd like to partner with Born to Fly to help stop the traffic, contact us at info (at) born2fly (dot) org.