Catholic Connection – Jan 16, 2024 – Hr 2
Dr. Marcel van der Watt on the evils of sex trafficking and how he believes it can end. Matt and Sarah Effhauser share their story of adopting a boy with Down Syndrome.
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Segment 1 – Intro and News
Segment 2 & 3 – Is there a deceptively simple way sex trafficking can end?
Marcel van der Watt (Ph.D.) is the Director of the Research Institute at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation in Washington, D.C. He is an internationally accoladed investigative and research professional with more than 20 years of experience in combating the interspersing criminal economies of organized crime, human trafficking, and sexual exploitation. His cumulative experience as a former police investigator, hostage and suicide negotiator, and human trafficking case consultant continues to inform his work. Marcel is also a Research Fellow at the Free State Centre for Human Rights, University of the Free State (South Africa), and serves on the Executive Committee of the Global Association of Human Trafficking Scholars (GAHTS).
Resources:
Give Sex Buyers the Attention They Deserve
Why Sex Buyers Must be Stopped
The Connection Between Sex Trafficking and Sex Buying
The 10 Best Resources to Help People Who Want to Stop Buying Sex
Segment 4 – Adopting a young boy with Down Syndrome
Matt and Sarah Effhauser are adoptive parents of a young boy with Down Syndrome from Serbia. They share how a life the world considers burdensome turned out to be their greatest blessing. “I’m sure you’re aware of the staggering rates of abortions of children diagnosed with Down Syndrome, whose lives are considered unnecessary burdens for others to bear. Matt and Sarah’s story powerfully contradicts this tragic narrative. In a recent op-ed, Matt details his hesitancy to adopt a little boy with special needs from Serbia – especially since he and his wife already had 5 biological children to care for. Yet when Matt opened his heart to this opportunity, he found that their new son, Rex, was far from a ‘burden.’ Instead, he was an incredible blessing, whose life brought immense joy not only to his family’s life, but also to that of their entire community.”
