Aware And Prepared

Hidden Signs of Child Trafficking: What Every Parent and Advocate Should Know (Part 2)

• Mandi Pratt • Season 3 • Episode 32

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Many kids and teens won’t say “I’m being trafficked” BUT they will show signs. 

In Part 2 of this conversation, Mandi and Erin with Love146 answer real concerns from parents, teachers, and teens about how to recognize trafficking and what supportive adult response actually looks like. 

They dig into why asking gentle, curious questions can open the door to disclosure and why resources like the Take It Down app matter for youth who’ve shared explicit images.

They also explore:

  • How social media shapes what young people learn (and misunderstand) about trafficking
  • The frustration of seeing victims ignored in high-profile cases, including the Epstein files
  • Why trafficking affects families across every socioeconomic level
  • The systemic gaps that leave survivors without the justice they deserve
  • Practical resources on the Love146 website for parents, caregivers, and educators
  • How donor support directly helps vulnerable families: like providing grocery gift cards during the government shutdown

This episode offers grounded, empowering steps to raise awareness, support survivors, and protect youth in our communities.


RESOURCES


Love146 website and Instagram and LinkedIn


Take It Down website from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as a resource for youth to manage explicit images online. 1-800-THE-LOST


National Human Trafficking Website and Hotline 1-888-373-7888


Connect with Mandi:



The primary purpose of the Women Aware and Prepared Podcast is to educate and inform. This podcast series does not constitute advice or services. Please use common sense for your own situation.



 I also wish that, that we were at the point where this didn't surprise us anymore. There's some sort of normalization I hope, that we can reach in trafficking, because the reality is, is that trafficking is happening at every socioeconomic level. Right? Right. And I think there's this assumption that is only, only the victims and only the offenders are low socioeconomic.

I will tell you that there are victims and there are offenders at every socioeconomic point. 

Hey, brave one. Welcome to the Aware and Prepared Podcast. I'm your host, Mandi Pratt, trauma-informed, resilient speaker, domestic violence, victim advocate, and narcissistic abuse survivor. Here we keep it real with true crime stories and real world strategies to prevent emotional and physical harm.

My guests and I share a mix of insight and survivor grit, all to help you feel safer, trust yourself more deeply. And live with greater peace and power. Let's trade fear for freedom and step into the peace that you deserve.

Hey, welcome back to the Aware and Prepared Podcast. This week is part two with Erin Williamson from Love 1 46. She's talking about child trafficking. And human trafficking, and how do we protect our kids? How do we protect ourselves? So I wanna make sure that, first of all, you have listened to the episode before this one.

So if not, please pause this and go to last weeks and. This upcoming week here is Thanksgiving, so I'm sure Erin would say the number one tip is to keep your kids out of the bedroom with their phones or letting them have it all night long, you know, when they're trying to fall asleep. So I'm gonna. Go ahead and begin the second part and have you listen to all the goodness that she has to say.

And of course, wishing you all a very, very happy Thanksgiving for those in the United States. I am so grateful for you. I'm so. So happy that you are listening to, to the podcast, and I love it when I speak to people who listen to it and tell me it's helpful. So really thankful for you all, and I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

So if somebody thinks they are being trafficked or somebody they know are being trafficked, you know, there's all these resources floating around and all of that. What is the number one thing they should do first? 

So, so if somebody thinks that they are being trafficked, I, I think. You know, again, everybody is going to find themselves in a different situation, whether they're actively being trafficked, whether it's someone who comes in and out of their lives, right?

I, I would really strongly encourage you to. Find an adult you trust and to share that information, right? Mm-hmm. You know, oftentimes we, we talk about the buckets that we all hold, right? And, and I say to kids, everybody has a bucket, right? And in that bucket are, are all your rocks, right? And those are all the secrets you have and all the, you know.

The things that have happened to you that, that you haven't told people. And, and some of those rocks might be really big, and some of them might be really small, but the only way to make your bucket any lighter is to start giving away your rocks. 

Hmm. 

And so, you know, whether it's a parent, whether it's a counselor, whether it's a family friend, whether it's a one 800 number, find somebody that you can share what's happening to, and, and.

You know, seek out support and help. It does exist out there. There are resources, like Love 1 46. There's organizations like us, you know, and, but there's a ton of resources throughout the country. Um, you can also call, there's a national hotline. It's +1 888-373-7888. You can call that number. You know, you can ask for resources that might exist in your own community.

It's a, it's an. Hotline specifically for human trafficking, but they understand the entire nation and what resources exist. So you know, that's a great number to reach out. But wherever you are most comfortable, I just strongly encourage you to reach out. 

So if the person reaches out to a trusted. Adult. An adult goes, crap, what do I do?

Right? 

What are they supposed to reach out to the police? I mean, I know you just gave some great resources, and I'm gonna put those in the show notes, but I'm sure a lot of them will be like, wait, am I supposed to tell the police? 

Right. So, and some of this depends on, on how old the child, the person is, if they're a child, and if you're an adult and if, if you're a mandated.

Porter, right? So I'm a social worker. Most of our staff are social workers. We're all mandated reporters, obviously, you know, you can just, and, and I will say we disclose that to kids right up front, right? Yes. Let them know even, right, so that they know that if they share with us, and, and I know there's some people that worry, well, won't that hinder a disclosure?

I mean, it really is up to that youth to disclose the information and, but then when they do, there's no surprises. Right? And, and many times the kids. Disclose even knowing that you're a mandated reporter, I bet they want that help sometimes. 

Exactly, exactly. And then I would say, you know, beyond kind of children and, and that emergency, especially if they're adults, you know, figuring out what next step makes sense for them.

For some people going to law enforcement is the next step. For some people, especially if there's been, you know, a really recent assault, it might be going to the emergency room and getting, you know, and getting a rape kit test or getting some other kind of medical exam for other people, that's not their first step, right?

Their first step might just be sitting with you. Like, I just have never shared that with anyone and, and saying to them like. What would you like to do next? Right? And, and if they say, I don't know, you can always say, can I call tomorrow and check in on you? Right. Can I call you and just, I don't wanna kind of be overburdened or over worry, but I'd like to make sure that, you know, I'm still here, right?

And that, that I'm available and, and really allowing. You know, one of the things with trafficking is that so much of, of people's autonomy has been taken from them. Right? And that happens really in any abusive relationship and situation is that so much of your ability to make decisions for yourself and to make them, and really think about what you want, right?

And not just what you feel like you need to do or should do for somebody else. And so, mm-hmm. That might take some people a little bit and, and the reality is they might make a different decision than you would, right. Right. You might go to the police and they might not, and Right. Again, as long as we're not talking about a child, um, where we really just wanna, we have to make sure we have some, you know, moral and ethical and legal responsibilities around that.

Being a supportive person in as much of a non-judgmental way as you can is such a, a gift. It's really such a gift. 

Right, right. And it would it, would you recommend that maybe as adults save some of these phone numbers in our phone? In our contacts, yes. So if that were to happen and we go, oh crap, now what do I do?

Ah, and then you go, oh wait, I have that saved on my phone. 

Yes, act. Absolutely. And in fact, and I think it might even be on our website, we have a bunch of 1-800-NUMBERS. We have, you know, the suicide hotline. We have substance abuse, ho runaway, and homeless youth. I, there's a whole host of numbers and we've actually put them on a card that we give out to kids.

Um, and we've had kids take pictures of those cards and send them out on social media. So if, you know, taking pictures or putting them in your phone and sharing out hotline numbers is. Super important. Uh, there's a ton of how kids don't know these hotline numbers exist. 

They don't, yeah. Right. They just don't any, or they don't think it's for them.

Right. Right. And there's some that are very benign. They're like, talk, you know, they're, you're able to talk about whatever you want and then they help direct you. Right. That's, 

oh my gosh. That's what I always say. Like, 'cause I'm always saying the National Domestic Violence Hotline, you can just call them for information.

Absolutely. You don't have to call them because you wanna leave right now. You know? 

Absolutely. Just asking and gathering information and then you can decide what you wanna do with that information. Right. 

Right. Pretend you, you're doing a report for school. I'm, I'm doing a report on this. Can you tell me, if I, if this was happening to me, where could I go in my community?

What could I do? What's the risk of this? You know, I remember calling a hotline with a young lady who was telling me that once it stopped snowing, she was gonna run from her. A placement. And I said, okay, well let's call the one. Let's call the runaway and homeless youth hotline together. And we called it up.

And I remember the person asking, like saying to me like, are you asking how to runaway? And then I said, no, but what I want is I want this young lady to have all the information she needs to make the best decisions. And so she's wondering if she calls you. What information does she have to give you? What information can you give her about resources in her community without her giving information?

If she goes to those places, do they have to call her legal guardian? Right? Because again, all of this is just information. Obviously. I said to that youth, I'm, I'm hoping you don't run away. Of course, I have concerns about the safety of that. But what I wanna make sure is that if you do make a choice, I mean, again, kids do things all the time.

I wish they didn't do. They do drugs, they date people, they do. You know, like they don't study for tests. Kids do things all the time. We wish they didn't do right? Yeah. But what we want them to do is have the information to make the best decisions that they think they can make in that situation. 

Exactly, exactly.

Did you know through my company Women Aware and Prepared, I share keynotes and workshops focused on prevention and healing, helping people live safer with more peace. I've been invited to speak at universities, school counselor conferences. The Institute on Violence, abuse and Trauma, crisis Centers, social work conferences, junior high and high schools, and women's gatherings, and many more.

My talks focus on following and acting on our intuition. Setting healthy boundaries and using self-defense as a tool for empowerment. Helping victims and survivors gain their power back with actionable strategies and real resources. If your organization is looking for a speaker who brings both inspiration and transformation, visit aware and prepared life or message me on Instagram or LinkedIn.

You'll find the links in the show notes. Let's live safer with more peace for brighter futures.

All right, so I wanted to address the elephant in the room. Um, today is November 12th, 2025, and some serious news is dropping. We have heard all throughout about the Epstein files and all of this, and about children being trafficked. These girls were 14 and so on. And it's looking like some of the responsibility is being shown on who all was involved.

Um, some of that's finally coming out. I would love to say I wish that we just listened to the Vic victims who already gave the information, but what do you have to say about that coming from that whole field with child trafficking? 

Yeah. I mean, and, and there's been, you know, other high profile cases. Yes.

You know, there was Diddy over the summer and, you know, and there's been, you know, it, it almost seems like every year there's somebody is being arrested in some sort of high profile case related to trafficking and. You're right. I wish we did listen to the victims and I wish that, that the criminal justice system was one in which it, it, we weren't kind of pitting victims against offenders, it seems.

It just seems so, the system itself seems cruel and I know people who even work within the system wish that, that it was different for people involved. I also wish that it. That we were at the point where. Kind of this didn't surprise us anymore. And I think we kind, we, we have, we still aren't fully there, but we're more there with domestic violence.

Right? Yeah. We, we more, we, we recognize that domestic violence happens at every socioeconomic level. 

Mm-hmm. We know longer, uh, people who are even of, of. High net worth come out and disclose that they too experienced right. Domestic violence in their house. And I think that there is, there's some sort of normalization that has happened there that I, I wish, or I hope that we can reach in trafficking, because the reality is, is that trafficking is happening at every socioeconomic level.

Right, right. And I think there's this assumption that is. Only, only the victims and only the offenders are low socioeconomic. Right. And certainly there are risk factors associated with that in terms of food and housing insecurity and things like that. But. I will tell you that there are victims and there are offenders at every socioeconomic point.

Um, you know, even the highest level, which is what we oftentimes see in the news. We have, we've worked with kids that have been flown on private jets. We've worked with kids who won't disclose things because they say, you know, some of the people who purchase them for sex are, are in political positions of power.

And so this is. This is not news to the people who are working in this field. This is what we know to be true. We know that. High profile people are engaged in trafficking. Um, and we know that for their victims in particular, it can be especially challenging because they have a level of resources Yes.

That are not available to the average person. Yes. And so, yeah, I, I, unfortunately, I don't think this will be the last situation that we hear about. It's not like I think, oh, can now we've uncovered everything. And I just, I hope that, that as society we can begin to recognize that, that this is also a, a form of victimization that that does happen.

Um, even among the most affluent. 

Yes, exactly. Exactly. So you guys have so many good resources and I went on your website and I saw how great it was. Um, so I would love to shout that from the mountaintops. So if you can let us know where people can go to find you and how you can help you kind of mentioned that throughout.

That would be awesome. Yes, 

absolutely. And thank you so much. Our, our communications team is amazing and so I do give them a shout out. Our website is love one four six.org. Uh, I would strongly recommend to sign up for those emails that I mentioned, and there's a banner right at the top of the homepage, um, where you can sign up for those emails that talk about introducing technology.

They even talk about. Kind of what to do if you've already introduced too much technology and now you're having that panic of how do I claw it back? And, and we do have parent resources on our website. We have a lot of, of short videos you can even watch with youth and, and a lot of resources. You know, I will also note that, you know, if you do wanna support our organization, we, um, greatly rely on the support of our donors.

We are an incentive based or, uh, program, and so we. Set goals for our youth and we celebrate achievement of those goals and really helping to fill the gaps. Uh, you know, recently, speaking of November, we're still in a government shutdown, right? Snap benefits have been cut. I cannot tell you how many families have reached out to us, how many youth have reached out to us on behalf of their families expressing their concern.

And again, when we're talking about kids who know how to make money. What they are weighing in their head is, my family doesn't have food on the table. And in wor in the worst case scenario, I do know how I can get money to get that food. And so we, because of the support of our donors, have been able to, you know, be really proactive in getting grocery gift cards out to our families and really following up with them.

You know, we're here to give you more. Don't think that's a one and done. Right. So, so we do rely on our donors and our supporters and we're grateful for whatever people can give to support our work. 

Right. That's awesome. And what was your website again? It's Love, LOVE and then the numbers one four six.org.

Okay. Awesome. And where did those numbers come from? 

Yeah, so our, uh, one of our co-founders or a bunch of our co-founders were, were kind of overseas and like many people dealing with trafficking are, are new to this issue. They, they initially thought this only happens over there, right. In those other countries.

This doesn't happen here, so. They too went overseas to figure out what they could do to address this issue. And they did something that we would not recommend now, but, um, they went undercover with another organization that was doing undercover investigations and they went into a brothel where there were a number of young girls, each of whom had a number pinned to their dress.

And that number was associated with a menu that was handed out to the men. And the price of different sexual activities, um, for different girls based on their number was, was on that menu. And there was one girl many of the girls were kind of looking up at, at cartoons that were playing, and there was one girl who was looking through what was a one-way mirror and.

You know, we don't know what she was thinking. We don't know what she, if she was new, if she was so traumatized, we don't know. But that girl's number was 1 46 and a couple of weeks later when they did the rate of that brothel, someone had tipped them off. And so all the girls were gone. And so we don't actually know what happened to her.

Oh. Um, yeah. And so when they were naming the organization, they decided to, to keep the number 1, 4 6, as a reminder that these are individual. Kids we're talking about that these are, this is not just an issue, these are children that are being impacted. Right. 

Wow. That is a strong story. Hmm. Well thank you so much for being here with us and um, I'm excited for people to go to your website and follow you on social.

Yes, absolutely. We're on all of the socials. We're on, um, Twitter, now X we're on Facebook, Instagram, uh, LinkedIn. We post on all of them. We're especially active on our LinkedIn account. Um, please, you know, follow us. Uh, it's how you'll get the, the latest and greatest information. Like I said, we have an amazing comms team, so they put out some really amazing materials.

So love 1, 4, 6 on all the platforms. 

Exactly. Okay, perfect. So. We covered quite a bit like we covered what is trafficking. 

Yep. We covered, uh, what to do if you think you or a friend, family members being trafficked. We covered the resources. We covered how to respond if somebody discloses. Uh, what else did we cover?

We talked about the Take It Down app, so some a, some actionable items that that happen and, and we just talked about, you know, the real value of. Beginning and maintaining open conversations that these, these are issues that are not one and done right. They're, they're layered, right? And the most important thing is really to just start that open communication and try to maintain, to the extent possible, a nonjudgmental response.

Exactly. Perfect. Well, thank you so much, Erin, for being here with us. We appreciate your time and all that you guys are doing, so thank you. 

Thank you so much for having me. 

You're welcome. Thanks for tuning in to the Aware and Prepared Podcast. Curious how tuned in your intuition really is. Take the free quiz at Aware and Prepared Life and get your score.

See how sharp your inner guide is. You are worthy of a safe and peaceful life. Talk with you next week and please share this episode with someone who came to mind while you were listening. Click on the top right menu in your podcast. It might just be what they needed today.