Predators Target Runaways
Teaching children survival skills may keep them from becoming targets of abusers and help them escape from abductors. Youngsters that are secure in their ability to find food and shelter until help arrives will reduce their chances of being trapped by connivers. Of even greater importance are the bonds that are created between a child and his family. Children from secure homes are less likely to become victims of child abusers.
Criminals target runaways because they are easy prey. The Vision is a book written by Debi Pearl that touches on the reality of the victimization of runaways in this country.
As the fabric of family life frays even in religious homes, children are running away in greater numbers. Over two and a half million children run away from home each year according to the United States Department of Justice. A large number of runaways are lured into illegal solicitation. Of those, the majority are enslaved by abusers. Because many of these children are from unstable home situations, they are not always reported missing.
In October of 2008, more than a dozen child prostitution rings were stopped by federal agents. Children involved ranged in age from thirteen to seventeen. Metropolitan areas were not the only places these businesses thrived. Several of these rings were located in rural and suburban neighborhoods.
Victims are understood by their abusers. Runaway children are often seeking security and safety. The abuser knows this. They lure their victims with promises of all that was missing at home: money to survive, caretaking, a loving environment, food, shelter, clothing. Predators also know how to use physical force and the threat of further violence to control children.
Runaways that are picked up by law enforcement are often given a criminal record. In most states, the age of consent is 17. However, there is no restriction on the age a child must be in order to be charged with prostitution. The same laws that state a child is not old enough to decide whether or not to engage in an activity can hold the child accountable for being engaged in that activity.
These youngsters lack family members that are willing to take them in, or rather, no family with whom they would want to live. Most communities do not have safe houses where victims can receive crisis intervention, medical services, counseling and protection. When released from juvenile services or jail, these children often have nowhere else to go but back to the streets that enslaved them.
The Vision contains a story of several people that encounter a hopeless, young runaway. Faith, patience and endurance are all tested as a distrustful, angry soul hangs in the balance. The Vision incorporates this story into its page-turning saga.
For more helpful tips like this, visit No Greater Joy – a ministry dedicated to sharing the principles of wholesome child training tips and joyful family relationships.
Tags: child abuse, prevent child abuse, runaways, stop child abuse
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 at 10:49 pm and is filed under pregnancy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.