The Crisis
It makes that profit by preying on the world’s most vulnerable people such as those living in poverty, unemployed, or homeless. This includes single women, single moms, and runaway girls. Unable to meet basic needs such as food, shelter or healthcare, these individuals are targeted with offers of meeting their basic needs in exchange for labor or sex.3
Another horrific source of trafficking occurs in a child’s own home where family members such as fathers, mothers, uncles and others abuse the children or traffic them for drugs or money.
1 International Labor Organization of the United Nations
2 Atlas Free, 2024
3 Cops Office, Department of Justice
Though this crisis might seem far away from our front doors, we want you to know that:
The U.S. Justice Department identified the state of Kansas as an originating state for human trafficking.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children receives more than 10,700 reports regarding possible sex trafficking cases every year.
The average age of a child enslaved by human traffickers is 15.
The National Human Trafficking Hotline receives at least 133 calls a day. Text is the fastest growing means used by traffickers to reach potential victims.
The United States is again ranked as one of the worst countries in the world for human trafficking and has regularly been listed in the top three. It’s estimated that between 15,000 to 50,000 people are forced into sexual slavery in the U.S. every year, but this number is hard to capture as only 0.5-1% of all trafficking victims are identified.4
4 Atlas Free, 2024.
We believe that the best way to solve a problem as large and overwhelming as this one is
one person at a time.
Vulnerabilities can put individuals in the path to be trafficked. We understand how vulnerable a woman is when she becomes homeless — when food, shelter, and safety are uncertain.
Too often, such vulnerability makes her a primer target for human trafficking and other dangers.
Understand who is most at risk and what the human trafficking and sexual abuse landscape looks like according to raw, honest data.
%
of women experience at least one episode of violence from a husband or partner in their lifetimes.
%
of adult women have experienced sexual assault or rape.
%
of adolescent girls have experienced sexual assault or rape.
women are sexually assaulted each year. That's more than one per minute.
men and boys are reported to be raped every year.
%
of teenagers report being solicited for sex on the internet.
%
of women experience childhood sexual abuse before the age of 18.
is the average age when childhood sexual abuse begins to happen to girls.
is the average age when childhood sexual abuse begins to happen to boys.
Let it not be said that I was silent when they needed me.
— William Wilberforce
%
of women suffered physical abuse as children.
%
of men suffered physical abuse as children.
is the approximate number of runaways every year in the United States.
of runaways are lured into prostitution within 48 hours of leaving their homes.
children live on the streets in the United States.
children live on the streets in the United States.
%
of children between 6th and 10th grade are victims of bullying.
%
of children between 6th and 10th grade are victims of bullying.
The above statistics come from:
- UN Women, “Facts and Figures: Ending Violence against Women”
- National Crime Center and Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, “Rape in America: A Report to the Nation” Arlington, VA (1992): 1-16
- The Children’s Assessment Center, “Child Sexual Abuse Facts“
- U.S. Department of Justice, “Runaway/Thrownaway Children: National Estimates and Characteristics“
- International Labor Organization of the United Nations
- Atlas Free, 2024; www.atlasfree.org
- Cops Office, Department of Justice cops.usdoj.gov
- National Human Trafficking Hotline; humantraffickinghotline.org
But these are statistics, and statistics can be dehumanizing.
Hope Ranch understands that these numbers represent real people—real women—many of them very young and very vulnerable.
If you wish to report a suspected incident of human trafficking,
you can contact your local FBI office. You can also call the KANSAS Human Trafficking Information and Referral Line, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, at: 800.828.9745.
In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services maintains, through the Polaris Project, the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC), which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Call 888.373.7888 or send a text to BeFree (233733).
Call KANSAS Human Trafficking Information and Referral
800.828.9745
Call National Human Trafficking Resource Center
888.373.7888
