The United States wants to be the “power house” of the entire world and with that America must lead by example. That dream isn't completely unreal, but the United States needs to start fixing the problems on our own ground. Child prostitution is alive on the streets of America. It’s a problem that should be addressed immediately by our country, because it will only grow larger if it’s not address soon.
The government has attempted to acknowledge the problem, but things haven’t subsided, as they should. In 2000 the Trafficking Victim Protection Act was passed, but there are still people who find ways around the law. In 2010 there were previsions added to the Act to help American citizens and along with the 10th anniversary of the Act the United States was finally ranked in the Trafficking in Person Report, or TIPS. This report was made to be guidelines for other countries on how to deal with human trafficking. The ironic part of it is America is the country issuing the report, but was not reported upon till 2010.
One change that would help a great deal of the victims of child prostitution would be to have more educated police officers who know what to do when placed in a situation where children have become victims of sex crimes. The government is very busy all the time dealing with anything and everything, so there have been a handful of organizations that have taken matters into their own hands. A few of them are, Children of the Night, GEMs, Courtney’s House, and many others. Lastly, many victims of child prostitution in the United States have found these organizations and completely turned around their life, one of those amazing people being Carissa Phelps.
There are so many people that could use America’s help who actually live in America, our country needs to take strides to helping those here before we go saving the entire world.
photography credit:
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