THE CRISIS: Discover The Cause.

Behind every statistic is a child.

A daughter. A son. A life with value, purpose, and a future.

Around the world, children are being exploited for sex, labor, criminal activity, and other forms of human trafficking. The crime is deliberately hidden, which means no organization can tell us exactly how many children are being trafficked at any given moment.

But what we do know is more than enough to demand a response.

Children now represent 38% of all trafficking victims detected globally. [1]

That is more than one out of every three identified victims.

And the number is moving in the wrong direction.

THIS IS A GLOBAL CRISIS.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, children accounted for 38% of trafficking victims detected worldwide in 2022. [1]

Compared with 2019, the number of detected child trafficking victims increased 31%, while the increase among girls was 38%. [1]

Children are trafficked for multiple forms of exploitation — including sexual exploitation, forced labor, forced criminal activity, begging and other purposes. The patterns vary from country to country, but vulnerability is the common currency traffickers exploit.

38%

of detected trafficking victims worldwide are children. [1]

+31%

increase in detected child trafficking victims compared with 2019. [1]

THIS IS NOT A DISTANT PROBLEM.

It is happening around the world.

It is happening in the United States.

And it is happening in our own communities.

IT IS HAPPENING HERE.

Human trafficking occurs throughout the United States. Children can be trafficked without ever crossing a state line or an international border.

Under U.S. law, when a person under 18 is induced to engage in a commercial sex act, it is child sex trafficking; proof of force, fraud, or coercion is not required. [2]

Federal data provide only pieces of the complete picture. For example, U.S. jurisdictions reported 2,640 sex-trafficking incidents in 2023, while federally funded programs continue to serve children identified as trafficking victims. [2]

But trafficking is a hidden crime.

Police reports, hotline reports, child-welfare records and victim-service programs each capture different portions of the crisis. No single number represents every trafficked child in America.

That makes another set of statistics especially important.

MISSING AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN ARE AT PARTICULAR RISK.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children reported more than 32,000 missing-child cases in 2025.

Among missing children reported to NCMEC:

1 IN 7

were identified as likely victims of child sex trafficking. [3]

And among children reported missing from foster care in 2025:

17%

were identified as likely victims of child sex trafficking. [3]

Those numbers reveal an important truth:

TRAFFICKERS PREY ON VULNERABILITY.

A child who is isolated.

A child who has experienced abuse.

A child without stable relationships.

A child who has run away.

A child searching for food, shelter, affection, belonging or protection.

These are exactly the vulnerabilities traffickers can exploit.

NCMEC warns that children missing from foster care or other state custody face particularly acute risks because they may already be vulnerable before they disappear. [3]

THE BATTLE HAS MOVED ONLINE.

The internet has given those who exploit children unprecedented access to them.

In 2025, NCMEC's CyberTipline received 21.3 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation, containing more than 61.8 million files. [4]

Those reports covered multiple categories of suspected exploitation and should not be interpreted as 21.3 million individual children. One incident can generate multiple reports or files.

But the scale of the activity is staggering.

NCMEC reported:

1.4 MILLION+

reports concerning suspected online enticement in 2025. [4]

113,000+

reports concerning suspected child sex trafficking in 2025. [4]

19.5 MILLION

reports concerning suspected child sexual abuse material in 2025. [4]

Reports involving child sex trafficking to the CyberTipline rose sharply in 2025. NCMEC cautions that the increase reflects several factors — including changes in federal reporting requirements and greater platform compliance — so it should not be interpreted simply as a 323% increase in the actual number of children trafficked. [4]

What it does reveal is the enormous and increasingly visible intersection between technology and the exploitation of children.

The place where children communicate, socialize and build relationships can also become a place where predators identify and exploit vulnerability.

CALIFORNIA IS NOT IMMUNE.

For Peace of Heaven, this crisis is especially personal because California is our home.

In 2024 alone, the National Human Trafficking Hotline identified:

1,733

human-trafficking cases in California involving

3,603

potential trafficking victims. [5]

Among the California cases for which trafficking type was identified, the Hotline recorded 1,064 sex-trafficking cases, 245 labor-trafficking cases, and 197 involving both sex and labor trafficking in 2024. [5]

Since the Hotline began collecting data, it has identified 16,780 trafficking cases involving 31,764 victims in California. [5]

These numbers represent cases reported to or identified by the Hotline.

They are not an estimate of every trafficking victim in California.

The true scope of a hidden crime cannot be measured by hotline reports alone.

THERE IS A CONNECTION WE CANNOT IGNORE.

TRAUMA. FOSTER CARE. RUNNING AWAY. EXPLOITATION.

California's own Child Welfare Council has documented the relationship between childhood trauma, instability and commercial sexual exploitation.

In a study of 113 commercially sexually exploited youth in the San Francisco Bay Area, more than:

75%

had experienced child abuse or neglect, and nearly

70%

had a documented history of trauma. [6]

California's Child Welfare Council has also warned that placement instability and running away can increase vulnerability because exploiters deliberately target children they perceive to be isolated or without stable support. [6]

This is one reason the connection between RESCUE and RESTORATION matters so deeply.

Getting a child out of exploitation is essential.

But rescue cannot be the end of the story.

RESCUE IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.

A child emerging from exploitation may carry profound trauma.

Loss.

Fear.

Distrust.

Abuse.

Broken relationships.

Educational disruption.

Physical and emotional wounds.

And sometimes nowhere safe to go.

That child needs more than removal from danger.

THAT CHILD NEEDS A PATHWAY HOME.

A safe place.

Stable relationships.

Adults who refuse to give up.

Trauma-informed care.

Community.

Dignity.

Belonging.

Hope.

This is where the mission of Peace of Heaven becomes very practical.

RESIST. RESCUE. RESTORE.

We cannot solve this crisis alone.

And we do not believe we are supposed to.

Peace of Heaven is helping build a movement that brings people and organizations together around three responses.

RESIST THE EVIL.

Expose what is happening.

Educate communities.

Protect children.

Strengthen families.

Advocate.

Pray.

Refuse to look away.

RESCUE THE CHILD.

Stand with experienced organizations, law enforcement, child-welfare professionals, survivor leaders and frontline ministries doing the difficult work of intervention and rescue.

Support them.

Resource them.

Work together.

Because collaboration reaches children that no organization could reach alone.

RESTORE THE LIFE.

Rescue opens the door.

Restoration is the journey that follows.

Peace of Heaven is working to create safe, therapeutic homes and supportive environments where vulnerable children can experience stability, relationship, healing and hope.

Not simply a bed.

A place to belong.

Not simply survival.

A future.

IS THERE NOT A CAUSE?

We believe the answer is unmistakable.

When children are being bought and sold...

When predators are hunting for vulnerability...

When children disappear from homes and foster placements...

When rescued children have nowhere appropriate to heal...

When a generation is being exploited both on the streets and through the screens in their hands...

SOURCES & NOTES

[1] United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2024.
UNODC reports that children accounted for 38% of trafficking victims detected globally in 2022 and that detected child victims increased 31% compared with 2019.

[2] U.S. Department of State, 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report – United States; National Human Trafficking Hotline, Federal Law and Definitions.
Federal law treats commercial sexual exploitation of a minor as trafficking without requiring proof of force, fraud or coercion. The State Department reports 2,640 sex-trafficking incidents reported by participating U.S. jurisdictions in 2023.

[3] National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), 2025 Impact Data.
NCMEC reports that one in seven missing children reported to the organization in 2025 were likely victims of child sex trafficking; among children missing from foster care, 17% were identified as likely trafficking victims.

[4] National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, CyberTipline / 2025 Impact Data.
NCMEC received 21.3 million CyberTipline reports in 2025. Report categories included approximately 19.5 million reports involving suspected child sexual abuse material, more than 1.4 million concerning online enticement and more than 113,500 concerning child sex trafficking. CyberTipline reports are reports of suspected exploitation and are not equivalent to a count of unique victims.

[5] National Human Trafficking Hotline, California Statistics – 2024.
The Hotline identified 1,733 California trafficking cases involving 3,603 victims during 2024. Since 2007, it reports 16,780 California trafficking cases involving 31,764 identified victims. These are Hotline-identified cases, not a prevalence estimate for the state.

[6] California Child Welfare Council, Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Work Group.
A study cited by the Council involving 113 commercially sexually exploited youth in the Bay Area found that more than 75% had experienced child abuse or neglect and nearly 70% had a history of trauma. The Council also describes the relationship between placement instability, running away and vulnerability to exploitation.