The month of April is Child Abuse Awareness Month. As we are entering this time of awareness, represented by the color blue, it’s time to take a good hard look at what is happening to America’s children at the hands of predators. This featured article by the Bradenton Herald tells the real-life story of a woman who thankfully escaped the horrors of abuse and then human trafficking and has since flourished and even triumphed after getting the rehabilitative help she needed. 

A Common Story

Like many others, this survivor’s story is one of shame and regret. She realizes that her past is dark, and she knows that traumatic events led her to develop habits, like a drug addiction that then created a perfect path for grooming. However, she says she is one of the lucky ones who got intense intervention after the events to regain her self-esteem. This along with her family’s support allowed this brave survivor to reclaim her life after spending 18 months in a residential program where she received trauma-related therapies.

The Importance of Rehabilitation After Trauma

This particular case highlights the importance of rehabilitation after a traumatic event like human trafficking or abuse of any kind. Saved in America is committed to not only helping girls find freedom from the human trafficking industry but also helping them recover from horrors that they have likely endured. This gives them a greater chance of going on and having a productive, happy, and healthy life instead of remaining broken and unable to function within society. That is why SIA works with many group homes, safe houses, and rehabilitation centers to get victims the help they need after they have been rescued. 

The Correlation Between Child Abuse and Human Trafficking 

Well, human trafficking in and of itself is abusive to all victims. However, outside this industry, child abuse can cause kids to have low self-esteem. It can also increase their risk of developing habits like drug addictions and make them more likely to run away. These all add up to an increased risk of them being trafficked by predators who know how to look for weaknesses and exploit them. Therefore, child abuse is somewhat intertwined with human trafficking, and reducing one will most likely improve the other at least in some form. Unfortunately, according to numbers from the National Children’s Alliance, more than 600,000 kids are abused throughout America annually. Therefore, the scope of the problem is immense and makes it even more important to support organizations like SIA that work to rescue kids from these evils.