MYTH:
During a rescue operation, children are always happy to be helped.
REALITY:
Not always, but sometimes. However, “rescue” can be an incredibly disorienting experience for a victim. Many youth caught up in commercial sex live in fear of law enforcement and do not readily trust strangers. One child we know was told by rescuers, “We have a safe place for you with help and services,” to which she responded “Last time someone said that it didn’t turn out so well.” Repeatedly (and understandably) we hear from survivors that when they were “rescued,” they didn’t know they were being helped until much later.
For a victim, to be removed from a situation of trafficking may mean being taken away from what has become familiar and predictable and placed into an unknown future. The anxiety that can be generated by a “rescue” experience is compounded if the child doesn’t yet understand their experience as trafficking. While operations to intervene are sometimes effective, there are lots of ways people find opportunities to exit exploitation. Many children in our survivor care haven’t been physically removed by law-enforcement from their exploitation. Rather, they’re connected to Love146 or child welfare agencies by caring adults who notice something is wrong – or sometimes even reaching out themselves and asking for help. Love146’s professional training equips adults to recognize and appropriately respond to children who are vulnerable or being exploited.
Repost from https://love146.org/learn/#common-myths