I had multiple training seminars by my (former) large mental health organization on human trafficking due to how pervasive it is in this region/Route 66… (I’ve heard it referred as the human-trafficing highway.)
These human-trafficing pieces of shit will absolutely use children as bait. They won’t just traffic children, but women who can be opportunistically abducted as well. I personally believe that’s what has happened to this poor young woman…
I had a client who escaped from human traffickers… She was abducted in the Midwest and trafficked to Texas. They kept her drugged up and that caused her to have substance use disorder when she escaped. She tried to escape and they caught her, and pistol-whipped really bad on the back of the head. She woke up from being unconscious with her head covered in blood, and climbed out a window and finally escaped. She called her parents states away instead of 911. Can’t imagine that call for her parents…
She really should’ve had medical intervention… She had some degree of traumatic brain injury and her parents told me it made her schizophrenia symptoms and dysfunctional behavior much worse. I only worked with her shortly after this all happened.
Her family hadn’t even reported her missing and thought she was not speaking to them/doing her own thing again. Human traffickers are largely opportunistic, but they will prey on the disadvantaged if they can. Some are more organized, and I knew of someone who was warned that their mixed-race child was being actively watched by human traffickers on their own street, because the child’s unique features make them more valuable/sought after…
And people don’t realize that human-trafficing isn’t all sexual. There is a horrifying number of human-trafficing victims in the US that are modern-day indentured servants/slaves for physical labor. Their handlers employee nefarious means to keep them under control, like holding passports, ensuring there is a language barrier, threats of violence, etc…
Human trafficking is a much more widespread issue in the US than people realize…