KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers politics on both sides of the state line. If you have a story idea to share, you can send Charlie an email at charlie.keegan@kshb.com.
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Four specialists are now working together to combat child sex trafficking in Missouri, including one woman based in Kansas City.
The Child Protection Center hired Olivia Markey as a commercial sexual exploitation of children specialist in 2024.
The center received state funding for the position after a law passed in 2022 put in motion a new approach to stop child sex trafficking in Missouri.
Markey and her counterparts in Wentzville, Poplar Bluff and Joplin speak weekly to better define child trafficking, find gaps in responses to reports, and identify ways to get resources like housing to survivors so they land on their feet.
“We see a lot of similar things but have different ideas,” Markey said while explaining the value of collaborating across the country. “There are different organizations in different areas that can be inspiring for what we want to do going forward.”
Child Protection Center provides a space for trained interviewees to speak with victims of abuse. Tyanne Wiederholt is the director of prevention and training.
She said child trafficking happens in neighborhoods and often out of desperation.
“It’s not the stigma where it’s a kid taken from the Target parking lot in a wealthy area,” she said. “It could be for someone to pay rent or they owe someone money and so they’re exchanging their children for sexual acts and receiving some type of product back.”
Wiederholt, Markey and Missouri will measure the success of the state’s new approach long-term. They admit numbers of sex trafficking referrals might increase at first as the group better identifies victims and cases.
Markey is confident her work and the work of her counterparts will lead to new policies and procedures to better protect children.
