Today, I interviewed on WCOA Elizabeth Melendez Fisher Good, author of “Groomed†and CEO of The Foundation United. She has implemented preventive training in K-12 schools with The Foundation United’s S.P.E.A.K. Up prevention curriculum (Student Prevention Education & Advocacy for Kids), as well as in hospitals, police departments and churches trying to get ahead of what makes children susceptible to trafficking.
“In America, the root of sex trafficking is childhood sexual abuse, and that is probably the greatest secret we have going,” said Good. “The stats now are one out of three little girls keeps the secret of childhood sexual abuse, and one out of five little boys. And this is happening in every zip code in America.”
She continued, “When a child can’t take it, like typically on 11, 12, 13, 14, something snaps if they’ve been in a chronic abusive situation. And they’ll run away. Within any zip code in America, within 48 hours, 80% of our own kids leaving what should have been a safe place will be approached by a predator that literally just has to say, ‘Hey, you hungry?’ Or Like Ghislaine Maxwell, ‘Hey, you want to be a model?’ I mean, these vulnerable, vulnerable children.”