By Demetrius Moffett

The cost of taking your children to the movies, $50.

The cost of enrolling your children into sports programs $200.

The cost of high school graduation packages $1,000.

The cost of watching your children grow up, priceless.

We may agree or disagree with the cost of movies, sports programs and graduation packages, most would believe we would agree with the cost of watching our children grow up. The truth is for some their children are not priceless. When it comes to dollars and cents, some parent look at their daughters and sons.

We may not believe it’s happening but let me share with you some numbers.

The FBI reports that human trafficking is the third largest criminal activity in the world. Human trafficking is a $32 billion-a-year industry and is on the rise in all 50 states. According to the U.S. State Department, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year, of which 80-percent are female and half are children. The National Runaway Switchboard reports 1.3 million runaway and homeless youth live on America’s streets every day in which an estimated 5,000 die each year.

Because of the runaways and homeless youth, it’s believed that the number of children trafficked in the United States could be much higher than 300,000. There are approximately 20 to 30 million slaves in the world today. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports that of every three child victims, two are girls and one is a boy.

The average age a teen enters the sex trade in the U.S. is 12 to 14-year-old. Many victims are runaway girls who were sexually abused as children. According to U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. “Human Trafficking in Texas.” Texas Advisory Committee, the National Human Trafficking Hotline receives more calls from Texas than any other state in the US. 15-percent of those calls are from the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

I know for some these numbers may be alarming. If you don’t believe me do the research.

Our children are priceless and we need to invest and protect them as such. Especially from the predator within our own homes. Abuse of any kind cannot be tolerated. There is help. Make the call, give involved.

The life you save may be your own child’s.