Founder of Saved in America, Joseph Travers, appeared on the Mark Larson Radio Show to discuss the reality of human trafficking in San Diego County and the way that Saved in America is fighting back against this evil industry that is growing by leaps and bounds all over the nation. Within San Diego County, there are around 5,000 trafficked kids being victimized by the sex trafficking industry yearly. Each child that is trafficked will make a predator on average $100,000 per child. Nationwide, there are 300,000 missing children at any given time, with 100,000 of these estimated to be victims of human trafficking. 

The Process of Getting Saved in America Involved

As part of this interview, Travers explains the process of getting SIA involved in a missing child’s case. In situations where kids disappear or run away from home, these kids seem from the outside looking in like they have willingly run away. This puts them in a different category in terms of how law enforcement approaches these cases, as they were not “kidnapped” or “taken” like those portrayed in high profile cases or movies. In these cases, law enforcement services are highly involved. They are closing roads, putting out alerts, etc. In the case where a child seems to have just run away on their own, law enforcement cannot utilize many of the strategies they would use with a kidnapping. That is why Saved in America is so necessary to getting these particular runaways back home. 

Parents Initiate SIA’s Involvement

In many cases, parents reach out to Saved in America to get them involved in their child’s case after finding the police are reaching a dead end on what they can do. SIA then gets parental permission through a power of attorney to act on behalf of the child and begins looking for evidence of where they might be, often via social media activity. Eventually, this will lead the SIA team to know where the child is likely located. At this point, the area is scoped out and confirmation is made about the child’s whereabouts. Law enforcement is called in to perform the actual rescue of the child. SIA then follows up and ensures that the child is given the help they need to recover, which often involves getting them help to break a drug addiction, counseling and more.