SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - Maybe you’ve seen it: the hashtag “Save the Children.” It has made rounds around the globe recently. As you’ve seen in stories for years on KY3, human trafficking is one of the fastest- growing criminal industries in the world. But now, the fight against it has been surrounded with controversy and misinformation.
“The education component is very important,” said STAND Against Trafficking chairperson Dawn Day.
She says ever since the hashtag blew up, so too did Springfield’s STAND Against Trafficking’s notifications of people ready to help.
”We get about ten emails a day right now,” Day said.
All the different marches and rallies around the Ozarks and country have moved people to action.
“There’s a big sensationalized component behind “Save the Children” right now, which I’m not discrediting that altogether because it’s getting it out there. But with those questions being asked, we need to have answers for those.”
The hashtag sparked controversy after claims it was hijacked by conspiracy theorists. Day says it’s important to find out the truth before you post.
Part of that is understanding what trafficking looks like in many cases.
“I’ve personally met with a former trafficker whose whole mode of operation was to meet people online and it was a woman. She would befriend teenage girls and specially seek out girls with family issues, mental health issues, and she’d play the role of a cool older sister or aunt figure and would intentionally build those relationships to get them to comply, often to the point where they wouldn’t see themselves as victims,” explained Dr. Rachael Herrington, who founded STAND and does training sessions on human trafficking each year. Dr. Herrington says typically, the enemy takes his or her time grooming the victim, which is why they might not see themselves as such.
Day is the sexual assault program coordinator at a Springfield hospital and says she stays far too busy.
”By what the definition is-- it’s being forced to do something sexually through force, fraud, or coercion and these girls were forced to do something, lied to, tricked. I was realizing that it was happening very frequently in our community, and that’s when I got involved.”
There are at least three local organizations that do different types of anti-trafficking work. You can find those here:
https://standagainsttrafficking.org/
https://www.nightlightinternational.com/missouri/
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August 19, 2020 at 05:08AM
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