Today marks the 20th Human Right’s Day. At New Beginnings’ our heart is heavy, as it always is, when we think about the children around the world sold into sex trafficking and slavery.

In a recent response to an article criticizing adoption, Tom Velie, President of New Beginnings, detailed the horrors of the sex trade of young girls in Nepal. Hundreds of thousands of orphans in the country “age out” of the system around age 14 or 15. Those girls who are too old for adoption are almost guaranteed to go into the sex trade. These horrors are not just happening in Nepal; they happen all over the world. The degradation of children and young girls and even the young boys taught to act this way sickens and appalls us.

How do we make a difference? We support quality international adoption. We contact our elected officials and require they pay attention to movements like STUCK, which focuses on making the international adoption process easier and faster. The more orphans given a quality forever family, the fewer children are enslaved. We can make a difference for children all over the world.

As Jan Eliassan, UN Deputy-Secretary-General said at the World Conference of Human Rights, “Nobody can do everything. But everyone can do something.” We simply have to know what we can do. So many people can make a difference through adoption or by requesting your elected officials support adoption. Today think about what you can do as an individual or as a couple to impact the Human Rights movement. Is it through adoption, or maybe is it sharing this message with your loved ones?