- Fighting Back Against The Sexual Abuse of Children and Human Trafficking
- Written by Mike Hobson
- Bibb County Alabama is reeling from this week’s disclosure of a child predator sex ring, that has been manipulating and abusing minor children for more than three years, prior to its discovery. Keep reading this story to find out what you can do to help these children and the organizations that are in place to support them.
Fighting Back Against The Sexual Abuse of Children and Human Trafficking
What you can do to mitigate the damages in Bibb County, Alabama
Written by Mike Hobson
July 27, 2025
Bibb County Alabama is reeling from this week’s disclosure of a child predator sex ring, that has been manipulating and abusing minor children for more than three years, prior to its discovery. Keep reading this story to find out what you can do to help these children and the organizations that are in place to support them.
Seven adults have already been jailed and charged with a wide range of criminal offenses. The alleged perpetrators include parents and relatives of some of the child victims. Ten child victims (male and female) ranging in ages from 3 to 15 have already been identified and taken into protective custody. All of the children affected so far are local residents. The Bibb County sheriff announced in a press conference this week that more arrests will be forthcoming and they expect to identify many more child victims. It is a horrific gut-wrenching story.
The disclosure and arrest of the perpetrators is only the beginning of this story. The child victims face a lifetime of spiraling challenges to deal with the issues of abuse, public reaction to their plight, and a myriad of their future human health issues and psychological trauma. As Sheriff Jody Wade said “the child victims will never recover from this horror. The best we can hope for is that they are able to bury the awful memories and move forward with a productive life.”
In addition to local law enforcement, the Bibb County Department of Human Resources has been instrumental in the investigation and removal of identified children into protective custody.
The non-profit Central Alabama Children’s Advocacy Center has been involved in this case since the investigation was launched and victims were identified. The Alabama Network of Children’s Advocacy Centers, Inc. (ANCAC or The Network) is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to promote the multi-disciplinary process in fostering an abuse-free society for Alabama’s children and support the development of the Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) model through public awareness, training and collaborative partnerships. The Network achieves this mission with 45 Children’s Advocacy Centers serving 67 counties with forensic interviewing, evaluations, medical referrals, and counseling services.
The problem of child sexual abuse and human trafficking is not limited geographically to Bibb County, Alabama. New stories appear in the media almost every day with stark revelations across Alabama and the nation telling of the magnifying explosion of these types of discoveries and events. The children of our nation are at risk everywhere. It opens the eyes of adults when this strikes in your own community.
The sexual abuse of children takes many forms. Direct physical and sexual abuse, production of pornographic images and the exposure of these images to minors, and the actual sale of forced child sex acts to pedophiles and predators. Human trafficking enters the picture when children are moved around, across county or state lines, for commercial sex purposes.
Multiple organizations estimate that 500,000 predators are online every day, leaving minors vulnerable each time they access a social media account.
Some of the factors that lead to these events are included below. This is not an exhaustive list, only a cursory review.
The following statistics are courtesy of ParentsTogether, a nonprofit organization providing independent reporting and commentary on issues that affect kids and families.
- 1 in 3 children are first exposed to social media at age 5 or younger.
- 1 in 3 children are expected to have an unwelcome sexual experience online before they turn 18.
- Younger social media exposure correlates with more sexual harm online and peaks for kids who start using social media at 11-12 – the age around which most American children get their first smartphone.
- 43% of kids exposed to inappropriate sexual content online were under 13.
- Kids with disabilities, special needs, or who identify as transgender are 2-4x more likely to send explicit images of themselves than their peers.
The most chilling fact about these statistics is that they only reflect the reported numbers. Human trafficking lives in the shadows, meaning it is impossible to ever know how many cases are happening without being reported.
https://ourrescue.org/education/research-and-trends/human-trafficking-statistics
In 2024, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC ) received more than 27,800 reports of possible child sex trafficking. This year President Donald Trump and Vice-President J.D. Vance have reported that more than 320,00 children who crossed our border into the United States are presently unaccounted for.
Child sex trafficking is a form of child abuse that occurs when a child under 18 is advertised, solicited or exploited through a commercial sex act. A commercial sex act is any sex act where something of value – such as money, food, drugs or a place to stay – is given to or received by any person for sexual activity.
While any child can be targeted by a trafficker, research, data and survivor lived experience and expertise have revealed traffickers and buyers often target youth who lack strong support networks, have experienced violence in the past, are experiencing homelessness, or are marginalized by society. When youth feel like they are not loved, supported, or like they don’t belong they become ever more vulnerable to unsafe situations. Traffickers are masters of manipulation and prey upon vulnerabilities using psychological pressure, false promises, actions of perceived love/support and intimidation to control and sexually exploit the child for their benefit. The issue of child sex trafficking is complex. Understanding the various forms of child sex trafficking and indicators can create opportunities for prevention, identification, and response. Most importantly NCMEC embraces and encourages all efforts on this issue to be survivor-informed, child-centered, and trauma-informed.
https://www.ncmec.org/theissues/trafficking
Recruitment
Data shows that trafficking victims are generally recruited by someone they
know – such as a family member or caregiver (33%), an intimate partner (28%), or
an employer (22%). As a whole, the internet remained the top reported recruitment
location. Recent Migration/Relocation remained the most frequently reported risk
factor or vulnerability identified, applying to just over half (54%) of all likely victims
with a known risk factor/vulnerability; this also applied to 93% of likely victims of
labor trafficking.
What Can You Do To Protect Children
- Don’t be shy or timid about learning what your children are doing with internet access and the use of free apps. If a teen has access to apps such as Tik Tok, WhatsApp, Telegram, Snap Chat, Minecraft, X (formerly Twitter) or other encrypted messaging apps there may be a problem. Videos and images that we used to call pornographic are appearing regularly on unfiltered social media apps on a routine basis. Limit access to and the use of internet devices, such as cellphones. Monitor what your children are doing and seeing online.
- The State of Alabama recently passed a new law aimed at reducing children’s pre-occupation with and use of phones, explicitly during school hours. Governor Kay Ivey has signed the FOCUS Act, prohibiting students’ use of smart phones and other wireless devices inside Alabama’s public schools. Support your local school’s efforts to implement compliance with these new laws and find out how they can help protect children.
3. Educate yourself. Look for online resources to help you learn about predators and the safe use of internet devices for your own children. Consult the plethora of online resources available to inform yourself about the problem and recommended steps to follow with your family. One excellent starting point are informational materials available from the U.S. Department of Justice. You can find them by visiting the link below:
https://www.justice.gov/psc/national-strategy-child-exploitation-prevention-and-interdiction
One helpful video has been produced by Shared Hope International and you can view it online at the following link:
https://sharedhope.org/what-we-do/prevent/awareness/internetsafety/
- Look for State and local non-profit organizations who use donations for the sole purpose of promoting the well-being, health and safety of our children and consider supporting them financially. Small donations can make a difference.
- Sharpen your vigilance and powers of observation. Do not hesitate to report suspicious activity or signs of illegal activity. If you see something say something. Let law enforcement and child protective services do the investigation.
6. Finally and most importantly Pray without ceasing.
- Pray for the safety and healing of child predator victims and the reformation of a broken segment of our society that preys upon the lives and futures of innocent children.
- Pray for the law enforcement and court officers that are pulled into the dark web of predators to enforce our laws and protect our children.
- Pray for the social workers, adolescent counselors and justice system workers that are faced with the horrors and subsequent consequences of child predation.
Engaging in Prayer has no pre-requisites. The power of prayer does not flow from us; it is not special words we say or the special way we say them or even how often we say them. The power of prayer is not based on a certain direction we face or a certain position of our bodies. The power of prayer does not come from the use of artifacts or icons or candles or beads. The power of prayer comes from the omnipotent One who hears our prayers. Prayer places us in contact with Almighty God. Whatever the answer to our prayers, the God to whom we pray is the source of the power of prayer. He can hear us and will answer us, according to His perfect will and timing.
