Ep 24: Trafficking Children

If you're a parent looking for sound, solid advice on how to raise your child in an ever-increasing dangerous world, then this podcast is for you. So here's your host, Richard Ramos.

Quote: The recent headlines surrounding Jeffrey Epstein's crimes are another. Painful reminder that human trafficking, especially the exploitation of children, thrives in silence, privilege, and denial. For more than 30 years, I have worked with survivors, families, and communities to confront trafficking in all its forms. The lesson is always the same: the abuse of children is not bound by geography Income, or status. Trafficking children is wrong, no matter who you are, where you live, or what power you hold. Children are not commodities, and no political affiliation, profession, or position of influence can shield an abuser from accountability. Every child deserves to grow up healthy, safe, and loved. Every child is valuable, whether born into wealth or poverty. Our community must remain vigilant. We must believe victims, hold perpetrators accountable, and strengthen systems that protect children, schools, neighborhoods, faith communities, and public policy. Trafficking is not a distant or rare crime. It can happen anywhere, and often to our most vulnerable, and it demands our collective outrage and action. We stand with the children, always. We've worked tirelessly to ensure they have love, support, and protection, and we will continue to do so no matter the identity of the abuser. Justice must not be selective Create societal division, twisted discourse, or political spin. Our commitment to children must never waver. If we are united in that, then no amount of wealth, status, or influence will ever outweigh the voice of a child who deserves to be free.

Close quote.

Celia Williamson, PhD, Executive Director, Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute. Hello everybody, welcome to the Parent Whisperer podcast. I'm Richard Ramos. Now I know that this isn't a nice topic to talk about, but it's an important one nonetheless. and another thing parents should give attention to, and unfortunately, many parents are suffering through this tragedy. The article that I just read by Celia Williamson, Executive Director of Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute, reminds us all of the urgent reality of this issue. And when she says It thrives in silence. She's right, but we should not allow it to remain in the shadows of silence, which is exactly why I chose to talk about it in this episode. I have a Google alert. Those of you who know what Google alerts are, you set up certain words that if it comes out in the news or something on the internet, an article or a story, it pops up in your email. So I have a Google alert for this and other topics that have to do with family, with children, with parenting, and the things that I talk about. But what's sad is that I receive this kind of alert of child trafficking, sexually abused children, almost every day, with multiple news accounts of kids being trafficked in this very way. And I know part of the reason this issue stays in the silence is because it is hard to think about. It's hard to talk about and to recognize it out loud. It's painful. It's depressing. It's sad. And as she says, just plain wrong. And I'm going to add Sick and evil. She also reminds us that the abuse of children is not bound by geography, income, or status. She says trafficking is not a distant or rare crime. Think about that. It's not a rare crime. How can that be? This kind of abuse, not only of human beings, but these are not adults; these are children. How can it be not rare? It just it boggles my mind how there's people out there, and that's what they're doing. That's what they're thinking about. That's what they're planning. That's how they're deceiving. It is just evil, and it can happen anywhere, she says, and often to our most vulnerable, which are our children. And then she says it demands— and I agree with her— it demands our collective outrage and action. And I think that probably maybe in news or television, maybe it's just too evil to talk about, but we should be hearing about it even more so that people will understand what is really going on and take heed and be more in tune with paying more attention to and focused on our children. So for a little context and perspective, let's look at some of the stats. You know, with stats, I don't know how accurate these are. As a matter of fact, I don't really think they're that accurate. I think it's underreported, just like a lot of other things that are terrible happening to people. So the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children saw a 55% increase. 55%. Not 5%, not 25%, 55% increase in child sex trafficking reports in 2024. And the other problem is that there continues to be this systemic breakdown. And I'm— well, I could just go off on this, but this— what does it mean, systemic breakdown? What that means is that the people that are supposed to be dealing with these issues are not doing their job. That's what it means. It's a concern. For example, according to Health and Human Services, 7,300 reports of migrant children that were trafficked—they failed to investigate it. And they said the reason they couldn't investigate this is because it's the backlog that they've inherited from previous years. It just, it's overwhelming. And further, it says that as of spring of 2025, which was just a few months ago, only 28% had been addressed. 28% of 7,300 cases yielding only 36 prosecutions and a handful of convictions. A handful. 7,300 reports And only a 28% conviction rate. It just—it's just unacceptable. And I got to say now, I've listened to other podcasts. I've listened to other officials that work for the Homeland Security and Health and Human Services and these people, and they've gone on podcasts. These like whistleblowers, and according to them, these numbers are way below what's really going on. One official that I heard on a podcast said that there were at least 350,000 kids over this span of when all these thousands of people were crossing the border. So many of them are children, as you probably know, and they're coming across the border with people who are really not their parents, and then they're just being turned over to somebody else. And what she was saying in this podcast was that they're not vetted. And the children are being turned over to. They're not. Nobody's vetting them. They're just saying they're relatives. And there were over 350,000 kids who were lost, and nobody knew where they were. I mean, it's just sad. But anyway, I just feel like it has to be. We have to shout this. We have to be outraged. We have to talk about it, even though it is sad. It's depressing, as I said, and it's hard to. you know, even think about kids that are being abused like this. And just one statistic on a globe— well, not a small statistic, but according to the Childlike Global Child Safety Institute in Scotland, they warn that this is a global pandemic of sex abuse affecting up to 302 million children annually. Can you think about that? Just imagine that, 302 million children annually that are being groomed online and what they call sextortion. So this is sad, you guys out there, I know. So when you put it all together These numbers, 38% of trafficking victims are children, and there's been a 31% increase in that since 2019. In 2022, 69,627 victims. I just think that— I can't believe that number. I think that's way too low. But anyway, of the 69,600, 38% of them were children. And so it just goes on and on. So let me just say now, I don't need to tell you why this matters. Why does this matter to me? This is our future, and I— what I want to say is we can make a difference. We can do something about it, even if it's home by home. You know, community by community, one at a time, little by little, however you want to say it, we can do something about it. And this is just one more reason why I do Parents on a Mission. And I'm encouraging all parents everywhere to join me. Join me, whether that's by attending a Parent on a Mission class, Or joining my team of POM mentors who I train in a 3-day training. I certify them, and then they take the curriculum and they teach it in their community, wherever that might be across the country and other countries. And I would love to have you consider that and join me on that. You can go to my website and find out more information about The POM, Parents on a Mission, mentor training certification program. Now, those options are not available to you or not of interest to you, you can purchase my books. You can go to Amazon and purchase my books on Parents on a Mission, or you can purchase them on my website. And then finally, this is why I started doing this podcast because I just want to reach more Parents, the future is in our hands, and the more parents I can reach, and the more parents you can reach, and the more parents we can reach, that's the answer. And I'm sounding the alarm for parents to wake up. Now, I don't mean to be harsh, and I don't mean to be rude, but this topic must be heard by politicians, by police, by principals of schools, by pastors, by priests. But most of all, this message, this awful message, needs to be heard by parents. Think of the numbers I gave you just a few minutes ago. How are we gonna make a dent in that? Stop. Maybe we can't stop 100%, but we can make a dent. But it's gonna take me and you, mom and dad, because we're living in the age where dying systems or broken down systems are just not serving and allowing exploitation of our kids. And our response to these issues has to be smarter, stronger, community-based, because we can't wait around for the government. We can't wait around for this agency or that entity to save our kids. Now just imagine for a moment, just imagine how many families, how many kids we could save with more Parent on a Mission mentors. with more Parent on a Mission mentors that are in communities across the globe and building a safety net that didn't exist yesterday. It didn't exist last week or last month, but we're just constantly out there encouraging parents, guiding parents, building them up, giving them the tools that they need And building that safety net across the globe. So let me end by sharing what are considered the top ten modern tools to keep kids safe online and offline. Now I'm not familiar with all of these, so I'm just gonna read them off to you as I. Found them. So here's some digital safety apps. The first one is called Bark, B-A-R-K, and it monitors texts, emails, and 30+ apps for signs of grooming, sextortion, and bullying. So the app, it's called Bark. Another one is Custodio. Q-U-S-T-O-D-I-O. And what this does, it monitors screen time and the dashboard for parents. It helps you to see what's going on with your kids. And another one is called Canopy. This is an AI-powered filter that blocks porn in real time. The 4th one on here is called NetSmartz. And these are free games and videos that teach kids how to spot unsafe situations. The fifth one, No Filter, N-O-F-I-L-T-R. And this is— it provides scripts and guides for teens facing online pressure or sextortion. And six, is— it's called Be Internet Awesome. It's fun game-based lessons on scams, privacy, and digital citizenship. Number 7 is called Stop It App. Kids can anonymously report unsafe or exploitative behavior at school. Number 8 is CyberTipLine. This is a central place for parents and mentors to report suspected exploitation. And number 9 is a crisis text line, 741741, and kids can text anytime to reach a trained crisis counselor. And of course, the last thing, which I think is the best and number one thing, Because all these tools are good, but mom and dad, no app can replace your voice. These tools work best when our kids know why you're using them and why you're sharing them with them, and you explain to them, have conversation with them, that you want to keep them safe. Technology can be a blessing, But it can also be a curse, and we're just doing our best using our voice to keep our kids educated and smart. So 3 basic steps: talk to your kids and make that connection, teach them the skills of how to use these apps, and then download them on their phones and be right there making sure that they know how to Use it. I'm suggesting that a parent mind shift for this digital age needs to happen quickly, and I want to repeat my message in ending today: Every parent in America is in a daily battle. You are in a daily war for the heart, mind, and loyalty of your children, and if you don't know that. You're not even in the game. And mom and dad, you need to get in the game. And I'm hoping that this podcast and all the other materials and resources I'm giving you and providing is inspiring you to do just that— get in the game. This podcast is on twice a week, every Tuesday and Thursday, and I'm trying to share what I believe are some of the top-of-mind issues for parents in this digital age. So I want to encourage you in 3 things: that you will subscribe, that you will share, and that you will say with me that Parents on a Mission is not for bad parents. It's for good parents who want to get better. See you next time.

So that's it for today's episode of the Parent Whisperer Podcast. Head on over to Spotify, Apple, wherever you listen and subscribe to the show. One lucky listener every single week that posts a review on Apple Podcasts will win a chance in the grand prize drawing to win a $10,000 private VIP day with Richard himself. Be sure to head on over to parentwhispererpodcast.com and pick up a free copy of Richard's gift and join us on the next episode.