Salvation Army Receives Funds to Fight Child Prostitution

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Salvation Army Receives Funds to Fight Child Prostitution

The Salvation Army, an organization originally started in 1865 by Methodist minister William Booth as The Christian Mission, has been granted one million dollars by the United States Department of Justice for work aimed at curbing child prostitution in America.

According to Children of the Night, an organization that helps children forced into prostitution, child prostitution was not a serious problem in the United States until the late 1970s, after Congress passed the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act that prohibited the secure detention of runaways, leaving them on the streets.

Children of the Night says that “No one knows for sure” how many child prostitutes there are today. “Rarely are child prostitutes arrested as children.”

However, in spite of the lack of firm numbers, the organization provides an estimation.

“In 1981, the General Accounting Office estimated that there were 600,000 children under the age of 16 working as prostitutes in the United States. Today, International Relief Organizations suggest there are 300,000 children working as prostitutes in the U.S. It is estimated that somewhere between one and one half million children runaway from home each year. It is safe to estimate that about one-third of those children have some type of involvement or brush with prostitution and/or pornography.”

Salvation Army in Cities

The funds received by the Salvation Army will allow the group to launch initiatives in cities like Denver, Chicago, San Diego, Atlantic City (NJ), and Washington, D.C., where it will plug into local faith-based organizations as well as other organizations on the ground to “engage local community engines,” as administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Randy Flores put it.

Adam Freer, Director of The Salvation Army’s Partnership to Rescue Our Minors from Sexual Exploitation, called the child prostitution “clearly a moral issue.” He also stated that faith-based organizations are a great resource for combating the scourge, as they “have wonderful networks based on preaching and message and teaching.”

The funds will also help in the training of social workers and other community leaders to see and stop sexual exploitation of minors.

Take Action!

Pray for the end of child prostitution both here in America, and anywhere in the world where it exists.