Posts Tagged ‘ Florida ’

Sue Aboul-Hosn and Dr. Anthony Davis meet with local child advocates January 20th, in Rockledge.

By Kevin Gillick

Melissa was on the streets of Central Florida at age five.  Raised by a crack-addicted mother,  she suffered her first sexual abuse at age nine, and was jailed as a runaway by the time she was 12. At 15 she was a seasoned prostitute, used by her pimp not just to provide sexual service, but to recruit other children for his stable.

The small group assembled at the Brevard Family Partnership in Rockledge, leaned in to hear Sue Aboul-Hosn read Octavia’s letter. Aboul-Hosn is a specialist in missing children for the Department of Children and Families.

Seated beside her, Dr. Anthony Davis, fellow member of the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking, scanned the faces of the small contingent. This meeting, on January 20th, was attended by fewer people than the first meeting in November.  Hopes of starting a Space Coast Chapter of the Rescue and Restore Coalition seemed to be fading, just a bit.

Florida is ranked third in the nation in human trafficking. Victims include both adults and children. Their ranks are comprised of foreign nationals as well as American citizens. They are children lured from, their homes and set to work as prostitutes; they are the immigrant poor, imported from other countries to perform slave labor on farms and in sweatshops. Many are forced to work in the “sex entertainment” industry.

In the United States, an average of 2,300 children go missing each day. Two thirds will end up in the sex trade.

Human trafficking is a modern form of slavery.  Victims are subjected to force, fraud or coercion, for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labor.  The Rescue and Restore Coalition offers free training to first responders enabling them to spot the trafficking victim.

They work with the emergency room staffer who might recognize the injuries of a frightened teen as the punishment meted out by a pimp, rather than bruises resulting from a skateboard mishap. They can train the juvenile justice worker to discern the difference between an enslaved child and a rebellious adolescent. By asking a carefully structured set of questions, these first responders can become the lifeline for a child trapped and foundering in abuse.

Dr. Davis is not to be put off.   Long before his bespectacled cohort had finished reading, he was pecking away at his I-Pod, texting community leaders in Brevard. He scowled at the empty seats before firing off another flurry of messages.

Melissa was rescued.  She was pulled away from her pimp and gathered up by these dedicated people. In her letter, she wrote about her restoration to the life she leads today. Now a young woman, she works for a state agency helping others who have been abused. She lives in her own apartment in Orlando and while raising her infant daughter, she works to receive her college degree.

Sue Aboul-Hosn, a gatherer of humans, hugged the stack of handouts that were never handed out. She stood and moved crisply toward the door. Now, she and Davis will go south to Martin and St. Lucie Counties.  In the car, they will discuss their plans for the Space Coast Rescue and Restore Coalition.