Host: Donna R. Gore
Co-Host: Delilah Jones
Atkinson shares stories of missing persons cases both in the United States and Central America as well as stories of rescued children and the 17 children he has personally adopted. Educating listeners of the challenges of intervention and the difficulties of bringing perpetrators to justice, he dramatically relates the heartbreak of families who have suffered the loss of along with the unanswered questions when a family member has been abducted or has otherwise gone missing.
Atkinson:
When we talk about missing children or when we talk about human trafficking, it’s something that really reaches in to who we are as brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers because it can and for some of us, it will affect our sons and daughters, our brother or sister, maybe eve our mother. So, it is very, very personal to all of us, and at the same time, it reaches into the scary side that we usually don’t want to venture in to.D.G.:
Maybe it might be helpful to paint a picture, maybe contrasting it in terms of what you might encounter for human trafficking in Central America as opposed to what we know of in the U.S. Do you think that would be helpful if you could give us a real-life example?Atkinson:
Sure, and the best real-life example is this: it’s the same. The scale is different, but it’s the same. Every 90 seconds, somebody goes missing against their will. Roughly 900,000 people are missing in the United States. This year alone, 150,000 more people will go missing, and 750,000 continue to be missing.
That happens in Central America too, people go missing for a couple of reasons. They go missing because of family abductions – a divorce, a separation…
“I’m not going to let you have our son because you love him and I want to hurt you.” OR, “I want to have my son. I am just coming and taking him because I might have lost the court order. I might be physically abusive or sexually abusive, alcoholic or drug addicted, but I want to hurt you, so I take the most precious thing I can from you, and that is our child.” THAT, in the United States, is the #1 reason why children go missing.
The #2 reason that children go missing is sexual predation. Fifty-seven thousand children are going to disappear this year in the United States by sexual predators…
Listen to the full interview here: blogtalkradio.com/insidelenz/2017/06/10/shattered-lives-patrick-atkinson-runaways-prostitutes-gangs-and-more
