So I chose to write about this today because I know for the bulk of my readers, most of you have children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews whom you love and never want to see hurt. Me personally I have three nieces, three nephews, a son and a daughter to give me gray hairs produced via stress and worry. There are so many dangers and demons we have to worry about on a day to day basis: drugs, alcohol, domestic abuse, teen pregnancy, child/teen depression, suicide, bullying, trouble with the law, etc. but the one I want to talk about right now is human trafficking.
Human trafficking is the trade of humans, most commonly for the purpose of sexual slavery, forced labor, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others.
Ok, Imagine This:
So you have a 15-year-old granddaughter, she makes all A’s in school, on the volley ball team, babysits for neighbors on Friday nights and reads to her great grandpa every Sunday at the nursing home. Great kid! But lately she’s been speaking a lot about this new friend she has that mommy doesn’t quite approve of. Your granddaughter doesn’t understand why because this new friend of hers is 19-years- old, with her own business, fancy car and name brand clothes, and she’s taken a huge interest in making your granddaughter her mentee. But mom knows something about this flashy older friend isn’t quite right. The 19-year-old mentor is always ducking and dodging on meeting mom, yet she’s adorning your granddaughter with gifts and favors such as paying her cell phone bill and taking her on shopping sprees. One day, mom finds an extremely provocative outfit hidden in your granddaughters closet; when she went to confront her about it, she also discovered finger print bruises on her daughter’s arm.
Your granddaughter gave into her mom’s grade A interrogating and spilled the beans. It turns out that this 19-year-old not only has been showering your granddaughter with expensive gifts, she’s also been promising her a job within the company she works for. And those finger-print marks are from the 19-year-old squeezing her arm so tightly whenever your granddaughter proves to be difficult when she demands her to do something. Your granddaughter confesses that the 19-year-old has been coercing her to skip school lately and sneak out of the house at night to run drugs for her in sultry and inappropriate attire that makes your granddaughter feel uncomfortable. You, your granddaughter and her mother take this situation to the police to discover that the 19-year-old is actually 16 years old and the car, clothes and business are a lie. She works for a man who runs a human trafficking ring and uses his young girls to recruit other young girls providing them with the means to be as convincing as they need to be. Once these girls gain control of these innocence minds, he swoops in and takes over, telling them that they belong to him and if they run or snitch, he would kill their families and post illicit pictures of these girls all over the website.
Pretty heart breaking situation, yes! But these things can happen! They can even happen to you and yours. I came across this article from www.CNN.com called The ‘5 disguises’ used by human traffickers by Brad Riley, Special to CNN
(Click here for original article).
In the article, Brad Riley talks about this Human Trafficking Prevention Movement that is taking place in many communities to make teens, parents and pretty much all family members more aware of the signs of human trafficking. While victims are often taken abruptly through kidnapping, they are also lured in deceptively through people they trust or even idolize. So I chose to take Mr. Riley’s 5 disguises and share them with you, through this made up story about a 15-year-old granddaughter made a victim to human trafficking yet she has a much better ending than most girls just like her.
It’s so important to watch over our children. Being a parent is a job as well as a blessing and it’s the greatest job you will ever have. Yet there’s no employee handbook on how to do it immaculately, so it doesn’t hurt to turn to others for guidance, advice or just reassurance that we’re all equally damaging our kids for life, in other words, you’re not alone.
In the article, Brad Riley breaks down the five Ps of human trafficking:
- Pretender:
Brad Riley says: Someone who pretends to be something s/he is not, such as a boyfriend, a big sister, a father, etc.
–In my story the 19-year-old was pretending to be an independent businesswoman, with tons of money as well as pretending to be 19 years old, which worked for your granddaughter because she’s so close in age that she could only see herself doing the same thing. It’s using “the glamorous life” to bait them.
- Provider:
Brad Riley says: Someone who offers to take care of an individual’s needs, such as for clothes, food, a place to live, etc or their wants, like cool cell phones, purses, parties, etc.
—In my story, the 19-year-old was paying your granddaughters phone bill and taking her on shopping sprees. Developing that relationship of trust and again, appealing to your granddaughter as someone she would hope to be like.
- Promiser:
Brad Riley says: Someone who promises access to great things, like an amazing job, a glamorous lifestyle, travel, etc.
–In my story, the 19-year-old promised your granddaughter a job at the same business she was working at which was true but it wasn’t the glamorous life she had imagined it was.
- Protector:
Brad Riley says: Someone who uses physical power or intimidation to protect (but also control) an individual.
–In my story, there is no example of this exactly, but the 19-year-old could have promised safety to your granddaughter to convince her to start making the drug runs. That safety may have been understood as coming from her boss who too, protected her [the 19-year-old]. “My protector is your protector, be good to him and he’ll be good to you.”
- Punisher:
Brad Riley says: Someone who uses violence and threats to control an individual. When the previous disguises have been exhausted, an exploitative person often becomes a Punisher to maintain control.
–In my story, the 19-year-old was using force to keep your granddaughter in line. Leaving those fingerprint marks on her arm from squeezing her so tight. She may not have been the main predator but she was a great lackey and that was her way of controlling your granddaughter after she started getting wise to all the other disguises.
I think that we sometimes are so afraid of offending each other that we don’t think to share this type of information. “Well maybe I shouldn’t say anything, I’m sure they already know about it!” No! if you have knowledge about something that could save a life from trauma or death, then share! Share this with your friends. Share this with your friends who you think they might be at risk of being a victim. But let me tell you something, if they have kids, even as old as early 20s, then they’re at risk. Because things like human trafficking don’t discriminate… don’t get me wrong, they may be selective about certain things but if one human trafficker doesn’t want you another one will find a use for you. And by you, I mean your children.