Human Trafficking CAN #PrayShareFind World Cup Outreach Results
Human Trafficking CAN #PrayShareFind World Cup Outreach Results
CAN #PrayShareFind World Cup Outreach & the Ongoing Crisis of Missing and Trafficked Children
The Center for Garden State Families is proud to have participated in and promoted the powerful #PrayShareFind outreach organized by CAN; Church & Community Abolition Network. On June 6, 2026, 21 host churches mobilized over 900 volunteers who engaged thousands of professionals. These coordinated efforts helped locate 167 missing and exploited children during the World Cup period. Tips generated from the campaign initiated federal human trafficking stings.
23 children rescued in NJ/NY!
These multi-agency efforts engaged state and federal partners alongside professionals most likely to encounter missing children in their daily work. Planning involved FIFA partnerships with State Attorneys General and faith leaders, including AGUSM, the Dream Center Network, Victory Seattle, Compassion Washington, The World Prayer Center, Alliance/Light for the Nations, Spanish Eastern District, Penndel Ministry Network, NJ Ministry Network, Central Pacific Ministry Network, and hotel partners. Host churches spanned New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Georgia, Missouri, Texas, California, Washington, and Delaware.
CAN reports 167 children found through the Cup Edition efforts (with additional recoveries in KS, OR, AZ, NM, CO, and elsewhere), contributing to 1,108 children found in 2026 and 9,873 found since 2021. We give thanks for every child located and for the volunteers, churches, law enforcement, NCMEC, the National Human Trafficking Hotline, and travel/transit professionals who made this possible.
Yet the battle is far from over.
Thousands more missing children still need to be found and accounted for. Many of these children are likely victims of human trafficking right here in the United States.
Government and official data underscore the scale of the crisis:
In 2025, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) assisted with 32,167 reports of missing children. Of those, 1 in 7 were likely victims of child sex trafficking. The overall recovery rate was 90%.
NCMEC’s CyberTipline received more than 113,500 reports related to child sex trafficking in 2025 — a 323% increase from 2024 — reflecting both expanded reporting requirements and the ongoing reality of exploitation.
NCMEC also reported 1.4 million cases of online enticement in 2025 (a sharp rise), a pathway frequently linked to trafficking.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued 2,642 Eligibility Letters to foreign national children identified as trafficking victims in FY 2024 (24% sex trafficking, 74% labor trafficking, 2% both). HHS programs served hundreds of child trafficking victims that year.
Federal agencies, including DHS/HSI, continue to open thousands of trafficking investigations annually and assist hundreds of victims, while law enforcement operations repeatedly recover children from sex trafficking and exploitation networks.
These numbers represent real children — many of whom have been exploited through force, fraud, coercion, or commercial sex acts while under age 18 (which constitutes trafficking under U.S. law regardless of force). Runaways, children missing from foster care or child welfare, and unaccompanied minors face elevated risk.
Abuse thrives in secrecy. Finding these children and holding traffickers accountable requires persistent, coordinated action.
The Center for Garden State Families therefore urges strong support and swift passage of the Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Prevention Act and related federal and state measures that strengthen prevention, detection, prosecution, victim services, and parental/community awareness. We call on elected officials, churches, community organizations, and every concerned citizen to back legislation and practical efforts that equip professionals, support law enforcement, expand tip lines and recovery resources, and prioritize the protection of children.
Click the Take Action button at the top or use this link: https://www.votervoice.net/CGSF/campaigns/135813/respond
If you see something that may be human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or text BeFree (233733). Tips can be left anonymously. Report missing children to law enforcement and NCMEC at 1-800-THE-LOST.
Thank you to all who prayed, shared, searched, and partnered. The work continues until every missing and exploited child is found and every trafficker is stopped.
For more information on CAN’s ongoing efforts, visit canfreedom.org and facebook.com/can.abolition.
Sincerely,
Gregory Quinlan, President, Center for Garden State Families