The STOPLight

White House speaks for exploited kids

What prompted President Bush to call a White House Conference on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children?

American young people are sitting ducks for exploitation. There are so many vulnerable, needy, naïve youngsters and so many treacherous, greedy, lustful adults hunting them down, we now have an American disaster of unbelievable proportions.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America stated this problem in its Message on Commercial Sexual Exploitation, which it released earlier this year. Now the President has revealed the scope of the exploitation and declared its ruinous impact by having this special conference on Oct. 2, 2002, the first of its kind.

Two people from Adults Saving Kids went to the White House Conference: Carrie Graves, a North Carolina synod team member, and myself, Pastor Al Erickson.

This conference was motivated by recent horror stories of abductions and missing children. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, started by John Walsh host of "America's Most Wanted," was a driving force in this conference.

What became apparent however was that a few hundred abductions a year cannot compare to the 300,000 American juveniles caught in prostitution. Nor can it compare to the 30 million American youngsters now on the Internet, one-fourth of whom receive unwanted sexual materials.

The Bush administration put forth top government leaders to speak and share throughout the day: President and Laura Bush, Attorney General John Ashcroft, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, FBI Director Robert Mueller, Education Secretary Roderick Page, and Secretary of State Cohn Powell.

Panels of experts in different fields also shared their insights. It was obvious that the problems of abductions, internet pornography access to kids, the sexual exploitation of kids, and how the government and others can respond to these dangers were taken very seriously by panel speakers and government officials alike.

Three women whom I have met before spoke about what we see as the real issue: the huge numbers of vulnerable, unsuspecting young people whose lives are being ruined by clever adults.

Chief Presiding Judge Nina Hickson of Fulton County in Atlanta spoke of how she and others in her community responded to local pimping operations by passing new state legislation and starting a shelter for exploited girls.

Dr. Laura Lederer of the U.S. State Department told how girls are recruited overseas and brought to the U.S. She stated the need for the U.S. to be a world leader to reduce the number of young people trafficked.

Susan Breault, Executive Director of the Paul & Lisa Program in Westbrook, CT, shared how there are young women from every state being prostituted in New York City. They have educated 200,000 students in schools about the recruitment and harm of the sex industry.

President Bush told the conference:

Each year about a million girls and boys are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Such trafficking is nothing less than a modern form of slavery. All these dangers demand action to protect our children from harm.

Some say President Bush is an alarmist. I say he is not alarmist enough. We Americans underestimate this tragedy in our midst -- to our own peril. What are we going to do about it?

by Rev. Al Erickson

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children can be reached at 1-800-843-5678 or 1-800-THE-LO5T. Their website is www.missingkids.com.

They have free publications about:

• Female juvenile prostitution
• Child pornography
• Internet safety
• Safety tips for children

It is easier to build a strong child than to repair a broken adult. - Frederick Douglas

20% of our citizens are children, but they are 100 % of our future. Children are vulnerable and must be protected.