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At the Love146 lunch table today, we were reflecting on our own adolescent years. “Oh, I was so sure that I was an adult! Looking back though, I see I was just a baby!” one of my coworkers said. Have you ever had that thought? I know I have.

17-year-olds are children.

At Love146, we have this fact at the top of mind as we regularly interact with people who are blaming kids for being trafficked. While research shows our brains are still developing until 25, 18 is the number we have landed on in society as a magic number. If you’re under 18 you’re a juvenile – a minor – a kid. We don’t mean that in a demeaning way at all! Childhood is a beautiful thing, even the adolescent years, when kids are pushing back against authority, think they are grown, and question who they are and who they want to become. Both in early childhood and adolescence, there is also vulnerability, which is why we have laws to protect children.

Yet, sometimes (too often) when we talk about young people who are victimized by sex trafficking, people often say things like: Well, that’s not really trafficking. It sounds like they were fine with it. They looked older. They should have known better. Nobody forced them. It was their own bad choice. They should have… They shouldn’t have… (Continue Reading) ([link removed])

Founded in 2002, Love146 journeys alongside children impacted by trafficking today and prevents the trafficking of children tomorrow. Our prevention education and survivor care work has reached more than 100,000 young people. Our work is achieved through the power of relationships and collaboration, listening to those with lived experience, scaling proven practices, and challenging the systems that leave children vulnerable. Our core commitment is to do what is best for children.

No identifiable children featured in Love146 communications are known to be exploited.

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