[sak9645]

Slavery is only part of the problem.

Prostitution is another horrible situation in which altogether too many children around the world find themselves.

Some poor birthparents are duped into placing their kids into prostitution. They are told lies -- for example, about how their children will work in a restaurant and go to school part-time, thus learning both academic and job skills and sending home money to their parents.

Some birthparents are so desperate, or in such messed up life situations of their own, that they sell their kids, knowing, at least on some level, that they may wind up in unsavory environments.

And some children are kidnapped, or forced into prostitution because they are homeless and living on the streets.

Some of the children forced into prostitution are as young as seven or eight. While girls are the most common victims, there are traffickers in young boys, as well. Unfortunately, there are sickos all over the world who find it exciting to have sex with kids -- and traffickers who are delighted to enrich themselves by providing the children, for a substantial fee.

Children who wind up in prostitution often become HIV+ at an early age. They may also acquire a variety of other STDs and die young, because of lack of medical treatment. They may become involved in drug use. They are often subject to physical abuse and emotional abuse, as well as sexual abuse.

As you say, kids who wind up in orphanages are often considered "lucky", even though we know that child sexual abuse -- by other children and by staff -- is not unknown in orphanages.

Homeless children in many parts of the world are also forced into a life as child soldiers. I don't know if you have read "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier", by Ishmael Beah, but it is a tremendously powerful account of a child from Sierra Leone, who became separated from his family when rebels attacked his village, while he was away at an event. His parents were later killed.

Roaming the countryside with some other boys, he wound up pretty much forced to join the country's army, where he became a killer and a drug addict before he reached his teens. (The army supplied marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, and other drugs, in large quantities, to the trainees.) Luckily, he was rescued and rehabilitated, and has since earned a college degree in the U.S. and become a spokesman for an end to the use of children as soldiers.

He is an amazing, resilient young man now, with tremendous insight into the events that occurred. Still, he has scars on his psyche, I'm sure, that will never fully heal. And many boys who faced what he did will never achieve anything like their full potential. Even some children who were rescued and put into rehabilitation programs did not "make it". They wound up back in combat, committing suicide, ostracized by their home communities, etc.

The good news is that there are groups around the world trying to end child slavery, child prostitution, and child enlistment into armies (government or rebel). The bad news is that they are underfunded and not always welcomed with open arms in some countries.

So, all of you, hug your kids tonight, and give thanks that, while their situations may have been suboptimal, they did not meet any of these fates. And if your resources allow, besides helping out in traditional "adoption" causes, give a thought to donating or volunteering in causes that help children who do not even have the flimsy safety net of orphanages and foster care systems.

Sharon