4,989 Children Rescued

While the initial rescue is over, the work has just begun.

These children have survived something most of us could never imagine. Let’s come together to give them a second chance.

Please don’t share this story publicly or on social media.

By the grace of God and the relentless courage of our frontline team, 4,989 children have been rescued from the unimaginable—40% more than we anticipated. Hidden in 17 illegal mining sites, these children—some as young as five—were living in darkness, exploited, forgotten, and robbed of their childhood.

Today, they are finally safe.

Thanks to a coordinated operation involving local authorities, volunteers, and military support, the rescued kids have been brought to a secure “base camp.”

Their Stories Are Heartbreaking—But They’re Not Over

The children came out quietly. Almost all barefoot. Some clung to strangers.
A 10-year-old girl wouldn’t let go of the hammer she used to crush stones—her only belonging.

The first days were a blur of triage:
Lice treatments, warm milk, prayers whispered over sleeping children.
Gently, staff helped them take their first careful bites—watching for signs of starvation-driven overeating.
Among the rescued are 18 young girls that needed immediate hospitalization, and 112 girls that were visibly pregnant. Others are malnourished, injured, and deeply traumatized. And yet—despite everything—many are finding smiles again. 

What happens now?
All of the children, except for those hospitalized, are safe at our transitional “base camp” thanks to the work of social workers, pastors, and program graduates who were once rescued themselves. Here they are receiving:

  • Nutritious, high-protein meals to rebuild strenth

  • Clean clothes to restore dignity

  • Daily medical care for healing

  • Emotional and spiritual support

The base camp is guarded by military personnel, and volunteers are present 24/7 to respond to emergency needs. But with nearly 5,000 children to care for, and 40% more children than we expected initially, resources are stretched thin.

How You Can Help Right Now
There’s no quick fix for what these kids have endured. But there is a way forward.

GIVE:

$750 funds one family reunification
  → $1,915,670 Needed

$1,000 covers a full year of care for one child
  → $1,872,000 Needed

$850,000 to build a girls’ home for young mothers and others with severe trauma.

BONUS: Building additional children’s homes to house the thousands of children who will be with us for the coming years.

PRAY:
For deep healing. For safety. For hope. For our team, as they walk these children from trauma toward Jesus.

SHARE:
Forward this letter. Share their story with friends. Invite others into the work of rescue and rebuilding.

Let’s Turn Rescue Into Recovery
These children have survived something most of us could never imagine. They’ve been saved from the mines—but they’re still climbing out of the shadows.

With your help, we can give them light.

Give now. Be part of their second chance.

For the children,
David Moorhead
CEO, Child Freedom Coalition

P.S. There are more updates to come including answers to your burning questions.

Please don’t share this story publicly or on social media.

Our team is ready to help you take the next step—whether it’s sharing the story, starting a campaign, or simply learning more. We’ll gladly connect, answer questions, or even visit in person to talk through how you and your community can get involved.

Reach out today to start brainstorming how you can mobilize your network:

David Moorhead | 214.493.0286 | david@childfreedom.org

Marcy Moorhead | 214.843.4898 | marcy@childfreedom.org

David Miller | 864.979.3128 | miller@childfreedom.org

We’d love to share more details about the logistics of this rescue and long-term plan for these kids. You can find those details in our FAQ section or reach out to our team directly with your questions because we can’t publish everything here.

F A Q ’ S

  • Our team teaches the kids that they are loved by Jesus, the rescuing God.

    In homes and in school, they learn to what great lengths God went to in order to rescue them. Pastors visit the homes to counsel, pray and invite the children into life with Jesus. God’s love is transformative, and it can be felt among the children.

  • Our trusted local partners, volunteers and pastors, like “Chowdary,” identify children through ongoing investigations and community connections. When it’s safe, our team carries out carefully coordinated rescue missions, often in cooperation with local authorities.

  • Rescue is just the beginning. Initially, each child will be rapidly transported to safe houses where they’ll receive medical care and a place to rest. They’ll be given space to process, tell their stories, and begin recovery. Each child receives trauma-informed care, including housing, counseling, education, and medical attention.

    While the rescued kids recover, we’ll start investigating how they became slaves, who trafficked them, and when possible, we also work toward safe family reunification or long-term placement with local caregivers.

    Some students will live with pastors and many will come to live at the children’s home for restorative care while we continue the search for their families. These kids will go to school, make friends, and have a chance to be kids again.

    All along the way, children will be taught how valuable they are to God and all the ways that he has showed His love to them. Most rescued kids respond to these invitations by choosing to follow Jesus.

  • Your gift goes directly toward rescue operations, family reunification efforts, and restorative long-term care. We divide funds among urgent needs like food, shelter, counseling, and education—based on the breakdown shown in the pie chart above.

    In the early stages of the rescue and restoration process, food, medical supplies and other necessities will be distributed across all the locations that house children from this rescue.

    Over time, reunited children will receive follow-up child welfare visits from volunteers and pastors who will check on their safety and continue to share the good news of God’s rescue to them.

  • Yes! Monthly support helps sustain long-term care for rescued children. You can choose to fund part of a rescue, contribute to ongoing needs, or rally a group to sponsor an entire rescue together.

    For many of these rescued children, we’ll never find their parents, and we’ll care for them for the coming years. If I child is rescued at 8 years old, it will cost about $1000 a year until they become 18, and at that time, we’ll want to extend vocational training opportunities to them. That whole lifecycle will costs in excess of $10,000 per child that stays in our care so monthly gifts help immensely.

  • Please don’t post details on social media. We want to protect the children, partners, and locations involved. However, we encourage you to share the story privately with trusted friends and invite them to get involved.

    If you want to host a group at your house, we’re happy to have someone from our team visit in person or via a video call to tell people about the needs and how they can pray and give.

  • Absolutely. We’re happy to travel or connect virtually to share the story and help your community get involved.

    Just contact us—we’ll coordinate on the best way to proceed. We want to make it easy for you to share on your own or with our support.

  • In impoverished, largely illiterate villages, traffickers exploit families through predatory debt, coercion, and deceit. They lure thousands of children with promises of good jobs or education—but deliver them into slavery instead. This crisis is widespread across South Asia, yet remains largely hidden. The population density is staggering, and our team on the ground believes the true number of child slaves far exceeds official estimates.

    The quarries use the children to clear the rubble on the way to get to rarer pieces of rock. Children are used because they are easier to control and manipulate than adults. The quarries are often massive, and stone is removed using a fireman’s carry where the children pass rocks all day to load them into waiting trucks.

    3000 kids represents many quarries all working with child slave labor. While those numbers are hard to wrap one’s mind around, they are very real. The scale of everything we support is hard to imagine, but our team has experienced it with our own eyes over and over again. Our team exists to expose the hidden reality and connect our donors to the fight against this evil with 100% confidence their support does the most good.

  • Traffickers don’t publish their numbers. Local volunteers make rough estimates, and we move forward with the best information we have. It is a complex operation, and we’re praying for clarity and wisdom to see beyond what we can see with our eyes.

  • For families who are victims of predatory debt, deceit or kidnapping, having their children brought back to them is life-changing. All reunited families go through a thorough vetting process, and they receive ongoing pastoral support to ensure the child remains in safe hands.

    In the recent past, our team performed an audit of reunited families, and we found 96% of families still living together. The other 4% of families weren’t located which is common with migrant working communities.