The FBI Crimes Against Children division is stacked with specialized agents in child safety to accomplish two main goals:

1-      Innocence Lost initiative – To prevent child prostitution, and take down the “pimp” predators.

2-      CARD Team – To rapidly deploy a CARD Team anywhere in the country to provide expertise and assist law enforcement during the most critical time period following abduction.

INNOCENCE LOST INITIATIVE

The Innocence Lost initiative specifically works to take down predators who are pimping out children for money.  The goal is not only to take down the bad guy during undercover sting operations, but more importantly to safely take the children out of the environment.   According to the FBI, there is a nationwide domestic child prostitution problem in which young girls are losing their innocence and held captive in a horrific lifestyle.  The misconception by some is that this form of child prostitution only occurs overseas, but in reality, if there is adult prostitution in a community, there is probably child prostitution going on as well. This project began in June 2003 in conjunction with the Department of Justice Child Exploitation & Obscenity Section and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Another goal is to tackle the growing problem of child prostitution and sex trafficking, specifically in the United States.  Since its inception in 2003, with 37 task forces in place, there have been nearly 900 successful recoveries and more than 525 convictions.