Faced with the horrific news of child sex trafficking ahead of World Day Against Human Trafficking this Wednesday, I am reflecting on the desperate need for change.
This week police in Bibb County, Alabama arrested three more people in connection to a child sex trafficking ring discovered earlier this year, bringing the total arrested to seven.
Police warn of “more suspects and more victims” to be found.
The power of awareness
Prosecutions of the perpetrators and strong penalties are an essential part of justice for survivors of all forms of trafficking. But it is not the only part.
Our Advisor and survivor of child sex trafficking Brooke Axtell explains:
Justice is the restoration of dignity, the protection of freedom, and the creation of a world where no one is for sale.
Alabama law enforcement began investigating the case that lead to this week’s arrests in early 2025. This was after being alerted by the state’s Department of Human Resources (DHR) of “concerns” of child sexual abuse.
The investigations on this case now go all the way back to 2022. That’s more than two years that these children continued to be exploited.
We can we do better as a society. We need to build an informed understanding of what trafficking looks like so we’re better equipped to understand the signs, without causing more harm, and can respond more rapidly to concerns.
It’s not just girls
With 10 victims identified so far in Alabama, from ages three to 15, it’s likely that some are boys. The image of a child victim is often a girl. But it does not mean all victims are girls. Holding a misinformed picture of what a victim looks like increases the risk that the child continues to suffer, even when coming into contact with the authorities.
Last week activist and trafficking survivor Jose Alfaro was reminded of the importance of informed awareness. Jose reported how during a case an investigations’ agent “revealed that they had no experience or training for identifying male victims of trafficking” during prosecution.
Jose goes on to write:
That moment hit me hard. It wasn’t that boys and men aren’t being victimized; it’s that no one is looking for them.
I thought back to the 7 years that I felt invisible to every system and was labeled a runaway or a bad and disobedient kid. The number of times law enforcement were called into a home where I was abused and I was either asked to leave or handcuffed. I blamed myself and suffered in silence.
Awareness is an essential step to action. Without training and education, Jose explains that boys and men will continue to suffer in silence and face stigma preventing them from seeking support.
Another common misconception is that perpetrators of child sex trafficking are often strangers. However as the Alabama case shows us, some of the perpetrators were parents of the victims.
The county sheriff in Alabama told the press:
No child deserves this, the power and control of it, the stealing the innocence of a child and the horrible victimization they went through with these monsters.
Seeking social change
Freedom United believes that the only way to build resilience to exploitation is to build informed awareness. That awareness must then be turned into action. Then we will be better positioned to hold others to account and build a society that is more resilient to exploitation.
We can do that not just by reporting, but by coming together to push for good policies that strengthen protection for children and adults, girls and boys, women and men.
Watch out on Wednesday for Brooke’s appeal to address this horrific crime.
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May these abusers face many years in prison for stealing these human’s freedom and treating their living souls like business equipment. May many more be caught and held accountable for their actions in the destruction they made of innocent lives.
These evil vile humans dont deserve to breathe !!!!!!!!!!
Interesting that Trump is busy driving migrants out of the US, partly because they are criminals and paedophiles and yet here are the real monsters, home grown.
So difficult to comprehend how/why there are those who find the torture and abuse of any living creature, in particular a child, exciting and stimulating. I read about this case in The Times. It was reported with some detail along with photos which makes it that much more real. I know these horrific scenes play out all over the world and have been doing so for years. I’d like to thank the people who make it their life’s work to catch the perpetrators and help the victims.
To call those who do these things dung-eating cockroaches is a dire insult to dung-eating cockroaches everywhere.