On average, roughly 2,000 kids go missing per day. Throughout the U.S., that’s almost 800,000 a year. Many of these kids, if not found, usually end up in trafficking rings or worse. So how is this issue being helped?

There are numerous non profit organizations such as Thorn or National Center for Missing and Exploited children who have done so much to save these children. Thorn has been reported to have identified 5,791 victimized kids. Thorn identifies the internet and how widespread it has become as the enemy. Yet, they use this “enemy” as the solution to finding missing children nationwide.  This problem goes a lot deeper than we think, and anything is a step forward that allows these victims to be reunited with their family and be kids again.

This issue isn’t talked about as often as it should be. Thorn and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children are on a mission to get this conversation going and to take the steps to fix this issue. Thorn was co-founded by Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore. According to their site, Thorn.org, “A large part of [their] work comes from informed research collected in the field, which helps [their] team, along with [their] partners, remain on the cutting edge of technology…”

An organization by the name A.C.T,  spreads awareness by sharing stories of victims. They have changed the name of the victims for privacy purposes. Here is one of their stories:

A 15 year old girl named Michelle had decided to run away from her abusive grandmother to start fresh. “She traveled out of state to the big city, optimistic that she’d be able to start a new life.  – Lavon – took notice of Michelle and began to chat with her. She enjoyed the conversation and felt comfortable with him so agreed to meet him again. It seemed she had made a new friend… Instead, she found hunger, fear, and a pimp who forced her into a life of prostitution…” Michelle stayed strong throughout all this and eventually escaped and found help at a convent where she was finally safe. While Michelle was extremely lucky, not many victims can say the same. In situations where victims are able to escape, the trauma of their experience remains forever etched into their minds. Many survivors often have to go to therapy or counseling to help cope with these feelings.

If organizations like Thorn continue spreading awareness, receiving donations, and learning how to take steps to prevent child trafficking, society can put an end to this for good.