Parents beware: The stranger danger is in your home
Last week, the FBI announced they rescued 84 children from a sex trafficking ring, including a 3-month-old infant and her 5-year-old sister who were being offered for $600. The average age of the victims was 15. Operation Cross Country XI resulted in 120 arrests.
But while it’s commendable that those predators are off the streets, there are many more setting traps for our kids online, so our first line of defense, as parents, must be our homes.
We used to warn our kids not to talk to strangers when they were outside playing or walking to school. Now these strangers have unlimited access to our kids in our homes.
During a recent conference in Ontario on the connection between kids online and human trafficking, police inspector Tina Chalk, who oversees Ontario’s electronic crime division, delivered these sobering remarks: “It’s a different world, especially the Internet, which allows all of these offenders to prey within seconds. They don’t have to leave their room, they don’t have to leave their house, they can start that grooming process right online, on the many different sites that all of our kids are on.”
Pimps and traffickers have admitted to using the Internet to connect with and groom our kids. They typically target kids who are having difficulties at home or are struggling with peer relationships. These predators often entice them with promises of fame and fortune, or they simply offer a sympathetic ear to a lonely child.
These online relationships can easily progress to in-person contact. Girls, as young as 8 years old, are more often targeted, but boys are at risk, too. Kids can’t figure out that they are being targeted because the online grooming process progresses slowly. Online predators manipulate our children by offering regular and intense conversation, kindness, flattery and deception. Kids most likely to fall prey to online predators are those who are risk takers, outgoing and confident youth who believe they are in control of their engagement with strangers online, or vulnerable — lonely kids seeking love and attention online. The best response to predators online is no response at all and it is up to us to teach our kids the risks of talking to strangers on social media.
We have gotten comfortable thinking that sex trafficking happens in other countries and involves kidnapping like in the movie “Taken,” when, in fact, our very own children are being exploited day after day right under our noses. According to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, one out of six of the 18,500 children reported as runaways in 2016 were likely victims of sex trafficking. Polaris Project, a global leader in the fight against human trafficking, uses the National Human Trafficking Hotline and the BeFree Text Line to track potential cases of trafficking in the US. The National Human Trafficking Hotline and BeFree Text Line receives approximately 100 calls per day, indicating that girls and women are most often being trafficked for sex in increasing numbers each year from all 50 states and DC.
We all need to be aware of the signs of sexual exploitation and that the signs may vary by setting. If you are an educator, please pay attention to changes in behavior or participation in school, relationships with older peers or adults, a history of running away from home, and reports of abuse or inattentive caregivers. Health care providers come into contact with victims of trafficking more often than we think, so they should take note of tattoos, frequent sexually transmitted infections, or clothing that is inappropriate for the setting or weather, in combination with physical, mental, and social health indicators.
Anyone suspecting a child may be a victim of sexual exploitation should call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1–800–373–7888.
Congress is considering a number of bills that cover a variety of policy areas designed to combat sex trafficking. The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act of 2017 (SESTA), S. 1693, and H.R. 1865, legislation sponsored by Rep. Ann Wagner, R-MO, are just two of dozens of legislative attempts to combat this growing problem.
We may never be able to police the Internet, but parents must be vigilant in protecting their kids from online predators. If they are using the computer they need to be told not to respond to strangers who reach out to them online. Parents should monitor their child’s online use including sites visited, “friends” and their profiles. Ask questions about who your child spends time with online and where they first met the person they are engaging with. Increased time spent online, secretiveness or lying about their online use and online discussions with strangers need to be investigated further by parents. Learn the shorthand now being used to communicate online, particularly things like GNOC, which means “get naked on camera” or LMIRL, which means, “let’s meet in real life.”
The passing of Senate Bill 1693 and H.R. 1865 could curtail the use of the Internet as a facilitator of sex trafficking, but it is not enough. Legislation and resources will need to focus more on the individual predators who use the Internet. Although policing the Internet is a gigantic task, legislation surrounding possession of child pornography may offer some guidance. Organizations like Thorn are already leading the way.
In the meantime, kids and their parents need to be aware of the potential risks of online victimization. It is urgent that we protect our children from these predators. The Internet is not as safe as we once believed; “Stranger Danger” has come into our homes.
