Wanting to keep our kids safe is a full-time job. When you throw in all the different social media apps, gaming platforms and chatrooms it can be daunting.  The key to helping with this task is keeping the communication open with your children, starting at an early age. 

Today it is not enough to talk about stranger danger outside the home. We also need to include discussions about strangers on social media.  Kids are learning to use the computer at a much younger age, which then leads into opening doors to the cyber world.  Teens alone can spend an average of nine hours a day consuming media.  

Here are a few parental monitoring apps to help get you started.  You can monitor, restrict, and manage what your kids are doing on their devices. Research and see what fits best for your family. 

• Net Nanny
• Canopy
• Qustodio
• Bark
• Family Time

In addition, have digital free dinners, even just a few times during the week, and talk about staying safe on the internet. A few topics to discuss. Never give out personal information online, never share with anyone if they happen to be home alone. If someone starts asking them uncomfortable personal questions, let your child know they can come to you.

At our Sex Trafficking Awareness training, we discuss these topics and many more. 

Let's work together to keep our children safe!

Stacy Iler

Executive Assistant Hope Ranch Ministries 

Brenda Myers-Powell was just a young teenager in Chicago when, pressed by poverty, she sold sex for the first time to make money for her grandmother and her young kids. It didn't take long for pimps to find her and violently seize control of her life. From there, she spent 25 years as a prostitute.

In this recently published article, she chronicles her incredibly difficult decades as a prostitute--the lies, the fear, the violence, the stigma, and the lack of "a way out" that kept her there. She also shares about the series of events that got her into a safe house--the beginning of a new life that started with a place where she could rest and learn to trust others.

Read her story to hear her resounding message:

"I am here to tell you - there is life after so much damage, there is life after so much trauma. There is life after people have told you that you are nothing, that you are worthless and that you will never amount to anything. There is life - and I'm not just talking about a little bit of life. There is a lot of life."

Brenda founded and runs The Dreamcatcher Foundation, an anti-sex trafficking organization in Chicago.  

"No man can do me a truer kindness in this world than to pray for me." -- Charles Spurgeon.

There's a lot happening at Hope Ranch Ministries, and we'd love to share it with you. If you'd like to join us in prayer, feel free to get in touch by phone or e-mail so we can add you to our mailing list for prayer updates. 

[email protected] 
541-255-2151 

Also, don't forget about the September Awareness Training this weekend. It's a great way to find out more about Hope Ranch and meet others who are passionate about abolishing modern-day human trafficking and slavery. 

During the third week of June, FBI agencies and partners across the country conducted a sting that resulted in the arrest of 281 pimps and the rescue of 168 juveniles who had been victims of trafficking. There's still a long way to go to eradicate trafficking, but as awareness increases, more funding and hours are allocated to fighting it.