You’ll Never believe these statistics on Orphans and human trafficking.
“Human trafficking is getting a lot of attention in the church these days and rightly so. But did you know that orphans are prime targets for traffickers? There are about 163 million orphans in the world today. 1.2 million children are victims of human trafficking globally and here in the United States. Each year 14+ million children grow up as orphans and age out of the system by age 16 (that’s over 38,000 daily).
In Ukraine & Russia kids who face a bleak future. Statistics reveal that 10-15% commit suicide before the age of 18. 60% of the girls are forced into prostitution (human trafficking). 70% of the boys become hardened criminals. Ukraine has the highest number of victims of human trafficking in all of Eastern Europe with about 117,000 annually. Those at greatest risk to fall prey to traffickers: the poor, uneducated, unskilled = aged-out orphan girls (Justice for Orphans).
stats on Ukraine orphans from the Secretary of State:
“The approximately 82,000-200,000 children institutionalized in state-run orphanages (in Ukraine) are especially vulnerable to trafficking. Officials of several state-run institutions and orphanages are allegedly complicit or willfully negligent in the sex and labor trafficking of girls and boys under their care.
“Ukraine is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. Ukrainian victims are subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor in Ukraine, as well as in Russia, Poland, Turkey, the United States, and other parts of Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East. Ukrainian women and children are subjected to sex trafficking within the country.
Helping Orphans. Rescuing Human Trafficked Victims. Or help many of the other atrocities?
For years our heart has been burdened to impact different areas of need that we have come across. And there are so many, it’s overwhelming. My wife and I have had so many conversations of bewilderment not knowing what to work on tackling first. Do you work to help see people rehabilitated after prison or drugs, free human trafficked victims, help with orphan care, broken marriages, etc, etc the list is endless. There are so many lost, hurting, broken, and bound people that need help.
But our question was what should we do? What part should we play?
Then we heard someone speaking about how to influence all of these areas and it pierced through our confusion and helped to laser focus us on what to do. She talked about some of the statistics out there and why she personally was so passionate about orphan care. So passionate in fact, that her and her husband adopted 12 children and devoted her career to adoption! Shout out to Claudia Fletcher! She revealed some statistics that blew my mind, that were very similar to the statistics I quoted above.
So what do we do?
You want to change human trafficking?
You want to change drug / alcoholic statistics?
You want to change suicide, criminal, domestic abuse, divorce statistics?
Impact the orphan and you will impact all of these statistics.
It’s dealing with the issue BEFORE it becomes a problem. It’s going upstream from the problem and cutting it off at the source. It’s rescuing the human trafficked victim before they have to go through being trafficked. It’s saving a drug addict before they get addicted. It’s freeing a prisoner before they become criminals. This is why I believe ORPHANS are on Gods heart and should be on ours. If you can see orphans saved, loved, and empowered you can see many other of these statistics change.
If 60-70% of aged out girls from Ukraine orphanages become human trafficking victims. That means if you eliminate the orphan problem you reduce human trafficking by 70%. That means by solving the orphan problem you reduce crime in Ukraine by 70% and you reduce suicide by 15%.
Is this too over simplistic?
I know this isn’t 100% foolproof. And I am being a little over simplistic. Sure maybe some orphans who are helped will still end up in some of these bad situations. And I know there are still many hurting and broken people that end up in terrible situations that are not orphans. But I do know that 100% of the orphans that aren’t, helped will remain un-helped. In other words, we may fail some by reaching out, not every story is a success story, but we definitely fail by not trying. By doing nothing, nothing gets done. I know we can’t do everything, but I also know that we must do something.
If we are overwhelmed by the problem and do nothing, the problem gets worse, but if we are overcome with burden and do something then there’s hope for a a better future. A future full of Jesus, family, love, and possibility. Instead a a future filled with pain, bondage, loneliness, and addiction.
I will say this again and again, we strongly believe that: Everyone is called to orphan care, but not everyone is called to adopt.
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