April is Child Abuse Prevention Month

Stop Child Abuse & Trafficking Now

It is Time to End the 3 A’s of Abuse, Abandonment, and Addiction and their legacy.

We all encounter hard stuff in life. We deal with it to the best of our ability. In most instances, it happens, and we don’t have a choice, so we step up and make the best of a difficult situation.

Then there are those who put themselves in harm’s way to serve and protect. I’m thinking of first responders, police officers and the military. Within the military there are those who test themselves in the most rigorous and dangerous of ways.

Delta Force and Seal Teams are examples of those who are often referred to as the tip of the spear for their ability to handle the most dangerous missions with precision and exactness.

Then there are those who handle emotionally and harrowing missions that are so sensitive we rarely hear about them. Timothy Ballard, whose story I relate below is one of those hero’s. He and his team rescued over 1600 children from human traffickers.

In many instances these children had been sold into slavery by family members, orphanages or others who were responsible for protecting and nurturing their innocence.

As I first read Ballard’s story I was overwhelmed by the pure evil that exists. That one human being can sell another into slavery, knowing they will be abused and defiled in the most horrific ways imaginable is unfathomable to me.

I am in awe as I contemplate the courage and fortitude of Ballard and his teams as they willingly walk into situations abounding in evil to rescue an unknown child.

In some cases it is just a child or two and in other cases over a hundred. They do this time and again regardless of the physical risk and the emotional horror that is ever present. (Slave Stealers is Ballard’s book that recounts true stories from the 1800’s and his experiences in 2012 weaving them together to expose the human and sexual trafficking that has existed in many societies for centuries).

The courage required to heal from these abuses is different than the courage of Ballard and his team but it is no less daunting. We under estimate our capacity and our courage.

I suspect that if your child was being trafficked you would stop at nothing to rescue them. No risk would be too great. For some reason do you believe you deserve less?

If any part of this is your story please know there is a path to hope and healing regardless of you age or your circumstances. Reach out to me [email protected] and we can discuss some of the options available to you. No one deserves to live with the albatross of pain from childhood when that burden can be lifted and they can experience emotional freedom to live the life they choose unencumbered by their past.

Regardless of whether this is your story or not this is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Step up and make your voice heard. It is time for all of us to do more to protect our children.