The Scene staff
It was a cold winter’s morning. I was doing my normal routine; rushing the kids out of the car into the school building.
As I quickly made my way back to the car to avoid the harsh wind, something caught my eye. I noticed a little boy, maybe about 10 years old, playfully making his way to school. But on the other side of the street, something caught my eye and caused a silent alarm to siren inside of my body.
There was a man dressed in dark attire who seemed to be keeping a safe distance behind the boy. He had the collar of his coat popped up, and he seemed to be keeping up with the child’s every move.
Call it mother’s intuition, but something just didn’t feel right. I sat in my car and quickly made a decision. I had to follow them.
Now my gut could have been wrong, but as a mother, I had to make sure this child made it to his destination. So I turned my car around and followed them slowly for a few blocks.
I don’t know if the man took note that I was following him, which I’d hoped he would. After a while, he turned off and went down another street.
My task still wasn’t done. I tried to safely follow the boy without alarming him for as long as I could, but I don’t think it worked. He eventually jogged off in the direction of a school, but I thought I saw a hint of fear in his eyes.
I didn’t care if the kid thought I was a whack job following him to school. What mattered is that I made sure someone’s child arrived safely to school.
Of course, this situation could have all been the imagination of an overprotective mom. However, with the tragic rate of missing children in our country, I’m absolutely certain I made the right choice.
Thanks to social media, we have an instant connection to what’s happening in the world around us. As a result, our news feed via Facebook is often flooded with photos of missing children on a daily basis.
Recently, America celebrated the Super Bowl with friends, family and plenty of food. While we were sitting around being entertained by the football game, children who had been sold in human trafficking, between the ages of 13 and 17, were entertaining rooms full of drunk, abusive men.
According to MSN news, human trafficking is a $32 billion industry globally. There are 2.5 million victims, many of whom had been taken from their homes and forced into prostitution or domestic work.
Loren Cohen, director of Sanctuary for Families, which assists victims of human trafficking, told MSN News that some trafficked women reported seeing up to 50 “johns” a day during Super Bowl weekend.
“Many of the men were setting up football parties where they are drinking, watching football and ordering in prostitutes,” Cohen said to MSN News, adding that one woman she spoke with told her, “it was really dangerous. If she was … at a party where the team was losing, the men would get really drunk and really violent.”
But this is not the only fate of America’s missing children. Recently, we all felt the tragic loss of 10-year-old Hailey Owens, who was abducted from her Springfeild neighborhood and found dead the next day.
So what’s the solution? As a mother, do I lock my children up until they are old enough to protect themselves?
Unfortunately, I don’t think there will ever be a solution. However, I do believe there are preventive measures we can take. We need to teach them about “stranger danger” and which adults they can safely travel with if we (parents) aren’t available to get them from school, and to encourage them to travel in packs.
Traveling in packs is extremely important. I realize that many parents are working parents and may not have the support I’m fortunate enough to have. But I urge you to find friends or other parents who become a support group for you and your child or children.
If you take the time to find a good support system, it may just save your child from danger. There may not be a “super mom” around to make sure your child safely makes it home.