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Summer blesses us with a renewed sense of freedom. We dust off our shorts and flip flops, swing open the prison doors of home, and venture into the warm sunlight to eat barbecue, go swimming, and dangle marshmallows over roaring bonfires. For many of us, this time of year is filled with life, joy, and memory-making.

Yet the season can be a challenge for rescued women and children. During Christmas, hordes of shoppers stream into WAR Chest Boutique to purchase products. In February, boyfriends, husbands, and fiancés scramble to find their significant others the perfect Valentine’s Day gift. Children pool their money together in May to buy their mom a pretty piece of jewelry for Mother’s Day. But after that, a lull in sales strikes, and life gets a bit trickier for women and children in our safehouses.

But you can make a difference in their lives this season: encourage your community to shop with a purpose by rallying in your local Fourth of July parade! Whether you belong to a group like Boy Scouts, or whether you simply have a passion for empowerment, you can take part.

Don’t know where to start? Here are some steps and ideas to get you going!

1. Snag a spot. Complete an application to participate. To do this, contact the Parade Association or your city’s Chamber of Commerce. Parade spots often fill up fast, so sign up today!
2. Find your people. Grab your friends, family, church, neighbors, or anyone else you can find to join you on the March for Freedom!
3. Make a scene. Stroll down your streets with WAR, Int’l banners and signs lifted high. Sit in style on a fancy float adorned with red, gold, and black trim. Sing, dance, shout, play an instrument, make some noise. Your march can be as simple or elaborate as you want; no matter what you do, your presence will raise awareness and stir the audience to take action!
4. Let us help you. WAR, Int’l can provide you with materials to make your march awesome. Email us at volunteer@warinternational.org to receive printable images for signs and banners. If your local parade will allow it, shoot us another email for coupons and pass them out at the event.
5. Become a model. Adorn yourself with jewelry, clothing, purses, and more from WAR Chest Boutique. You’ll support a woman with your purchase, as well as advertise the beautiful products they make.
6. Embrace other cultures. Check out the different countries that WAR, Int’l supports and don the clothes that they might wear during festivals and special events. Declare that freedom and justice is for all—no matter where they live or work!
7. Don’t forget to snap some pictures! We’ll post them on our website for all to see.
8. Have any other brilliant ideas? Let us know at volunteer@warinternational.org.

If you’d like to know more, call our office to receive an informational packet about this great opportunity. Parades can be a powerful mechanism for change, and on a day when we already celebrate our country’s liberty, you can help make freedom a reality for everyone—both nationally and internationally.

Cassie was just an infant when her biological parents abandoned her. From that point on, she was carted from abusive foster family to abusive foster family, never able to find a place to call home—until someone adopted her. But she didn’t find safety and respite within her new household. Instead, she was once again abused, even trafficked. The trauma she faced planted roots of mental illness within her.

Cassie’s story has a happy ending; she was rescued from her situation and is healing within the refuge of a domestic safehouse. However, her situation is not unique, and other stories may not end on a positive note like hers does.

Children with experience in foster care are at particularly high risk of sex trafficking; they make up the majority of individuals preyed upon (The Polaris Project; ACYF). The foster victim to non-foster victim ratio is uncertain, due to the hidden nature of the crime; but 2013 statistics from the Polaris Project estimated that, of the runaways who were believed to be trafficking victims, 67 percent came from foster care backgrounds.

Why such high numbers? What puts these children at this degree of risk? There are a few different reasons and factors.

Children are placed in foster care for a good purpose: because they have suffered abuse and/or neglect at the hands of their biological parents. This creates an inherent risk; children who are abused—especially sexually—are more likely to be trafficked. But the physical and emotional damage does not always end with the child’s mother or father. Foster parents—the ones who are meant to protect, cherish, and rehabilitate—may also abuse the child, as Cassie’s did. This is not always the case, of course, but it does happen. In such instances, families slice into preexisting scars.

Past experiences—as well as the stress of relocation and parental separation—can also hinder relationships between foster children and families. Many of the children suffer developmental, social, academic, emotional, and/or mental issues. While some families rise to the challenge and succeed, others find that they are not properly equipped for such a responsibility. Sometimes those in the latter group feel forced to back out for this reason, leaving children feeling unwanted.

Even if the fostering relationship works out, system policies may force children to flit from home to home. With each move, a new fissure streaks through the floors beneath them. The result is a life of instability.

These factors make foster children particularly easy targets for sex traffickers. Pimps can step in and draw victims into a net of slavery, luring them with things they’ve always wanted but never experienced: love, dependability, acceptance, and affirmation.

Kindhearted people like you, however, can also give at-risk children the affection, attention, and care they so desperately need. Donating your time through mentorship is one way to do so. Befriend a girl between the ages of 12 and 14—the average age of prostitution entry (The Polaris Project)—and you will provide her with appropriate love and affirmation, which she may not receive at home. The offers of a trafficker will then lose their power. There are many organizations through which you can mentor, from the nationwide (e.g., Big Brothers Big Sisters of America) to the local (e.g., Barnabas Ministries in West Michigan). Even if you don’t have a knack for mentoring, you can simply create a haven of hospitality for your children’s companions. Extend warmth and friendliness to them, and assure them that you are present and available if ever they need someone. Perhaps they won’t respond, but perhaps they will.

In addition, WAR, Int’l partners with several other organizations that help at-risk children, such as New Life—a rehabilitative and life-restoring home for youth who have nowhere to go or have suffered abuse, neglect, trafficking, and more. They offer services such as counseling and skills training. Support their work, and you will lift a young person out of his/her circumstances, as well as join him/her on the journey toward recovery and empowerment.

Lastly, if you feel called and equipped to do so, consider opening your home to a foster child. Throughout the United States, the demand of foster children exceeds the supply of foster families. By giving an abused or neglected child a structured, stable home and all the love in your heart, you will give him/her a safe place to heal, as well as reduce his/her risk of being trafficked. Whatever you choose to do, your charitable act can make a difference, giving a child a hand up rather than a handout.

Taking action during trafficking awareness month

When the alarm clock forces your feet to escape their cave of warm blankets, the same old question comes to mind; “What am I going to wear?” Normally the choice is made from a large pile of pants, shirts, and skirts. But many men, women, and children across the globe have no choice at all. From the clothes on their back to their food and their daily work—everything is controlled. According to the US Department of State, an estimated 27 million people live as modern-day slaves. This dark reality, commonly known as “human trafficking,” continues to thrive as the third largest criminal enterprise (USDS). But during the month of January, groups and individuals alike will open closed doors, unveiling this hidden evil as a part of Human Trafficking Awareness Month. One individual, Megan Cowley, is raising awareness in her own unique way—by picking out a dress.

The Plain Dress Project

During Human Trafficking Awareness month, Megan, a mother and teacher, will become a voice for the silenced through necklaces, scarves, and bracelets. “I am going to be wearing the same ‘Plain Dress’ every day and accessorize it with items I have acquired from various organizations that address the issue of human trafficking” said Megan, “Most of my jewelry and scarves are WAR products and near the end of the month we are going to host a WAR product party.”

As friends, family, and co-works ask Megan about her repeat dress, she will pass out a small card with information and organizations, like Women At Risk, who address the global issue of human trafficking. “I am hoping that people will be moved from apathy to
awareness and then action. If I am able to generate awareness I will feel like that is a seed planted…” Such seeds have the power to challenge our daily living, call communities to action, and even offer rescue to the at-risk. Megan herself first became aware of human trafficking while watching a movie. When she later heard Becky McDonald speak at a conference, that seed became something powerful and life-changing.

Your January Mission

During this month WAR, Int’l wants you to clothe those at-risk in dignity and worth, planting your own powerful seeds. Whether you are a doctor, teacher, parent, runner, or other, there is always a way to take action against injustice. “I believe that I can engage people in these relationships—to have conversations, to build awareness, to pray, and to support organizations at local, national, and global levels, both financially and through volunteer service” stated Megan, in the hopes that many others will join her in this mission.

During Human Trafficking Awareness Month only, you and a friend can each host a product party and receive a US Training Center necklace as our thanks to you. Or commit this month’s coffee funds to a necklace at the WARChest Boutique, to a WAR, Int’l partner, or even to the US Training Center right at WAR Headquarters, where your donation will be doubled. You can also follow Megan’s journey on Instagram @megancowley1 or by following #plaindressproject.

Let us know if you create your own project for Human Trafficking Awareness Month! We want to see how you’re taking action against Human Trafficking in January and beyond!

When it comes to sexual slavery and exploitation of children, Americans tend to view it as a problem somewhere else. Slavery doesn’t exist in the United States anymore, we tell ourselves. Certainly the selling of children here is unimaginable. And no, slavery as it existed in the early years of our country’s formation does not exist openly. But make no mistake: the buying and selling of people, especially children, for sexual acts occurs today.

Whether Americans realize it or not, this horrible threat against our children has existed here for many years. In fact, the first laws created to indirectly fight child exploitation were enacted over 100 years ago.

Between the 1880’s and 1900, most of the states changed a child’s age of consent from ten years old to sixteen. The winds of change slowly blew across the nation, as this transition marked the first action to protect the purity of young girls. Though rarely reported at that time, sexual abuse was more prevalent than people knew. Raising the age of consent showed the first sign of concern from authorities.

The first law that touched on human trafficking was the Mann Act of 1910, or the White Slave Trafficking Act. Enacted to fight forced prostitution and transportation of women from state to state, it didn’t specifically protect minors. An amendment in 1917 broadened the scope of the law to include any noncommercial immoral acts. However, it wasn’t until 60 years later in 1978 that the Mann Act was amended to protect male or female minors from sexual exploitation. The introduction of child pornography came in the late 70’s, prompting the government to take action.

With the sexual revolution and vast change in America during the 1960’s and 70’s, people felt more comfortable speaking out about child exploitation. Authorities started flexing their muscles within the family institution. Doctors were more likely to investigate physically abused children for sexual abuse and then notify law enforcement. A problem that always existed finally received some attention.

1986 saw another revision to the Mann Act. This change protected minors from “any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense.” Around the time when the Mann Act was amended again, child pornography was nearly extinct in America. Law enforcement agencies organized a series of successful campaigns and child pornographers became isolated, hunted people. But the rise of technology in the 90’s changed everything.

Once expensive and difficult to reproduce, child pornography could be in front of you with the click of a button. The internet allowed predators to communicate with each other and find victims easily. The law tried to keep up. The Mann Act was amended again in 1994 and currently makes it a felony to willingly transfer anyone under the age of 18 in the U.S. or in foreign countries for the purpose of prostitution or criminal sexual acts. Another law instated in 1994 was the Violent Crime Bill and Law Enforcement Act. It included a provision called the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Act which makes it a crime to travel to a foreign country with the purpose of having sex with a minor. Prosecutors looked to both of these laws to combat child exploitation.

The year 2000 brought the first law intended to fight human trafficking. The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act criminalized human trafficking and zeroed in on prevention, protection and prosecution. While the Mann Act needs proof of transportation across state lines, TVPA needs no such evidence of trafficking. It can be in state. In 2002 Congress passed the Sex Tourism Prohibition Improvement Act, criminalizing the actions of sex tour operators. Laws are coming along but the problem of child sexual exploitation continues to grow. With the constant threat of HIV or AIDS, victims are getting younger. The average age a child first becomes a victim to exploitation is 13 or 14. 300,000 children are at risk of exploitation in this country. This isn’t an overseas problem. It is here in America. It isn’t just in impoverished communities but flourishes in middle class communities as well. Child sexual exploitation occurs everywhere.

We must continue to fight this. The law often lags behind technology and in the area of child exploitation it’s no different. Let those in government know that this is a huge problem and that you support anti-exploitation laws.

To help, exercise your right to vote! Beyond voting, you can search pending legislation in Congress and your own state online.