Man trafficked by his own father raising awareness for overlooked cases

CHARLOTTE — Every year, an estimated 300,000 children are victims of sex trafficking.

For perspective, that’s enough kids to fill the seats at Bank of America stadium – four times.

There are many faces to child sex trafficking – like Mike Chapman.

“I am currently a survivor of both childhood sexual abuse, incestual and family-controlled sex trafficking, both by my father,” Chapman tells Channel 9′s Hannah Goetz.

Chapman says his face – then and now – represents one type of trafficking that often goes unnoticed.

“I thought, I’m probably the only one, because this doesn’t happen to guys. It doesn’t happen to boys,” Chapman says. “You hear all the in the news about survivors and it’s all little girls, and you don’t hear about it happening to little boys.”

Chapman tells Channel 9 he suppressed many of his childhood memories for decades, until he started his own healing journey.

He learned as an adult that he was sexually abused by his father as an infant. He says the abuse continued for years and that between the ages of five and eight, his father trafficked him to other men, in what he says were called ‘boy swaps’.

“I was sedated for most of it, and so the memories are sketchy,” Chapman says. “It was me and two other boys.”

After the sedative wore off, he says he distinctly remembers traveling along a camp route before ending up at one of the previously mentioned swaps.

“It was a bunch of dads, a bunch of cars. We were the only three boys,” Chapman says.

Brittany Dunn co-founded Safe House Project, a nonprofit that works to combat human trafficking and help survivors.

She says there is no profile for trafficking victims.

“I think it’s incredibly important that we don’t limit who we believe can be impacted by human trafficking. You know, holistically, we see across the country that probably around 33% of individuals experiencing human trafficking are male and so, if we remove that from the equation, we’re missing a large amount of people who really need help being identified or need those support services,” Dunn says.

Mike Chapman has dedicated years to healing, battling post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and addiction.

He now uses his story to help others, through life coaching and his podcast Healing for Male Survivors.

“Help is out there,” Chapman says. “The more you share and the more you hear stories of other survivors, you get this sense of camaraderie but then really, it helps inform your own story. I’m so honored to be able to bring that by having different survivors on sharing their stories, because that’s what got me healing.”

When asked what he would tell his younger self, Chapman says, “Bad stuff happened to you. Some of it you don’t remember. Some of it you won’t remember for a long, long time, some of it you may never remember.”

He adds, “It doesn’t mean you’re bad and it wasn’t your fault, and you’re going to be okay, and you’re going to find ways to find healing, and you’re still going to have a wonderful life. So be patient with yourself. It’s going to be okay.”

(WATCH BELOW: 5 arrested after undercover human trafficking sting in Rowan County)

5 arrested after undercover human trafficking sting in Rowan County

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