PREDATORS PREY ON RUNAWAYS

Survival skill training can be one way to help your child avoid becoming a victim. The ability to find food and shelter until rescued will shield a child from many dangers. One of the most important ways a parent can protect children from abusers is to work to provide a safe, secure home environment where a child knows he is loved and wanted.

Criminals know that runaways are easy prey; that’s why they target them. The Vision is a new book by Debi Pearl that touches on the reality of the victimization of runaways in this country.

Rates of runaways soar as more and more families are disintegrating. Over two and a half million children run away from home each year according to the United States Department of Justice. A large number of runaways are lured into illegal solicitation. A majority of these children are indentured into service by abusers. Many of these go unnoticed because their disappearance is never reported to authorities by their malfunctioning family.

Federal agents in a nationwide sweep broke up more than 12 child prostitution rings in October 2008 that used children as young as 13 up to age 17. Metropolitan areas were not the only places these businesses thrived. Many of these operations are able to thrive in areas that are suburban or rural.

Criminal hunters study the mental and emotional makeup of their targets. They realize that these children are in search of a secure and safe place. Whatever the child lacked at home – food, clothing, money, attention, shelter – all of that is promised by the abuser. The control of the children is additionally secured by physical force and the threat of violence.

The response of local law enforcement is often to give a criminal record to these children. While a child must be 17 in most states in order to qualify as a consenting adult, there is no age limit on how young a child must be to escape prostitution charges. While the law states that an underage child cannot consentually agree to intercourse, those same laws can be used to level criminal charges against a child engaged in that activity.

Hundreds Nabbed in Prostitution Bust
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These youngsters lack family members that are willing to take them in, or rather, no family with whom they would want to live. It is not common to find safe houses with counseling services, medical treatment, and crisis management. Although released from jail or juvenile services, these children often have no other option but to return to the same bondage they escaped.

The Vision contains a story of several people that encounter a hopeless, young runaway. Endurance, faith and patience are put to the test as an angry, untrusting soul is at stake. This is just one of the strands that is woven into the tapestry of The Vision. Find out what happens! Don’t wait to purchase your copy of The Vision by Debi Pearl.