Fighting child trafficking
A world that many simply ignore.
The World of Child Trafficking
This is a topic that many have heard about, but in many cases, they do not stop to see how close that reality is in their life, their church and their community. For many years we helped collaborate and train children's homes and their staff in different areas such as administration, positive and intentional influence work with children, establishing direct purpose, and more. But from a Christian perspective we always saw flaws, deficiencies, negligence and even abuse.
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In 2019, the Lord allowed for us to be very close to a case of child trafficking. A set of little 6 year old twin girls that we knew and had worked with for a long time were sold for organ trafficking. Praise God, in coordination with the police, we were able to rescue them! However, this event opened my eyes to the reality of child trafficking. I wanted to learn more about this, so I received a lot of information from the chief of the police and it was unbelievably disturbing. I found out that the top 3 crime industries in Costa Rica were drug trafficking, money laundering, and sex & organ trafficking.
Our Calling
It is for this reason that we decided to take a step of obedience to our God regarding fighting against child abuse and trafficking. The children we are rescuing are being trafficked for sexual exploitation and organ trafficking. It means, for sexual exploitation, that adults pay around $5,000 to have sexual encounters with children around 9 years old, and organ trafficking involves people selling children’s organs for cannibalism and more. We have created a 3-step program that, in coordination with the police and other entities, we are using to fight against child trafficking.
Our 3 Step Program
We have created a 3-step program that, in coordination with the police and other entities, we are using to fight against child trafficking.
Prevention
We provide Church & Community leadership training in the following subjects: What is Sexual and Other Abuse, The Normalization of Improper Relationships, and The Identification of Possible Cases of Abuse.
Reception
The children we rescue need somewhere to go. For many, they were saved from a home where abuse was taking place, and most children's homes will not take children who have been the victim of trafficking due to the dangers it brings. So we have founded the Little Starfish Children's Home, through which we coordinate with local police and children's agencies, churches, and communities to receive these children and provide a safe environment for them to thrive.
Restoration
Our desire is to provide more than just food, a bed, and a safe place for these children to live. Our primary goal is to aid in restoring these children to be able to be functional and contributing members of society. All of our teaching and programs come from a Christ centered basis, for ultimately he is the only restorer that can help these children! As we introduce these children to Jesus, we also seek to provide emotional rehabilitation, social re-insertation, and, when possible, reunite families with their children who had been taken. We also help in the adoption process for qualified children, and continue to provide work and academic support even after the children have reached age 18.