NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — More than two dozen at-risk missing children are now safe thanks to a new Tennessee Bureau of Investigation initiative.
Operation Safe and Sound focused on children at risk in Davidson County. Over a two-day period, dozens of representatives from government agencies and nonprofit organizations worked toward making contact with those children identified as being at-risk, to ensure their safety and assess their status.
In turn, their hope is that it creates an impactful effect on those that were most at risk of falling through the cracks. The children that qualified had a history as a chronic runaway or were a victim of human trafficking.
Operation Safe and Sound was a pilot program, which will now help lead the way for similar plans in other areas of the state.
The children were provided with services they needed in order to be safe and contacts who will have an active presence in their lives. The operation also allowed for agencies to follow up with youth who were previously recovered to ensure their safety and well-being.
Agencies will continue to look for children who were not found during this past operation.
The agencies providing the support include the Metro Nashville Police Department Human Trafficking Unit, Metro Youth Services, Metro Juvenile Courts, TBI Human Trafficking Task Force, Department of Children’s Services, FBI, and the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Other non-government organizations, End Slavery Tennessee, Epic Girl, and Free for Life International, joined in the work of this operation.
