Human trafficking and exploitation is a massive issue in the US. In 2016 the National Center on Missing and Exploited Children received 8.2 million reports, while in the same year, the National Human Trafficking Hotline fielded 7,621 cases.
One of those people that became a victim of trafficking was a 16-year old girl that was abducted along with a friend while riding her bike one afternoon. Her parents, identified as Maureen and David by PEOPLE, contacted Saved In America (SIAM) after police insisted on treating that case as a runaway.
SIAM, co-founded by private investigator Joseph Travers, is a team of volunteers, including groups of retired Navy Seals, police investigators, and other experts. Less than a week after taking on that case, Travers' team had rescued the daughter of David and Maureen from the criminals that had intended to sell her into modern slavery.
In January 2018, the team had a hundred percent success rate, rescuing all 58 people they'd investigated according to PEOPLE. Since December 2014, they've saved 223 kids, with 60 percent being recovered before they'd been trafficked.
For those that have been exploited before they could be recused, SIAM also helps to procure legal representation, safe housing, and rehabilitative therapy.
SIAM plays a significant part in helping overstretched police forces save kids.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children predicts that 20% of kids reported as runaways are victims of exploitation. However, police often treat then as runaways as "law enforcement is responsible for so much, they are constantly over-extended and are not legally required to perform due diligence to find a 'runaway' child", according to Megaphone.upworthy.com.
The team earned glowing endorsements from law enforcement.
Image credits: Saved in America
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