Exposing Grooming Tactics
to Keep Kids Safe from
Predators, Cults and Traffickers
PREVENTION
Empowering children, teens, and women to Recognize, Resist, and Report grooming practices of abusers, cults, and human traffickers
COLLABORATION
Collaborating with and supporting other organizations providing services to families and victims of predators
SUPPORT
Supporting FAMILIES of stolen loved ones, with services, referrals and community.
Supporting VICTIMS who are rescued or return home
When Your Child Turns 18 ...
When your 18 year old child empties her bank account to join at 35 year old 'boyfriend' 500 miles away - you have ZERO rights to intervene.
ZERO.
Flying Monkeys Cofounder, Gaelen Vandenbergh, found out the hard way when her daughter emptied her bank account and forfeited a position on a college D-1 Soccer team, in order to go live with a 35 year old man who had 'groomed' her for 6 months online.
Although police were called to the scene, and the 18 year old was clearly psychologically entrapped, the police had no legal way to prevent her from leaving.
2 years and thousands of dollars paid to private investigators later, our best hope is that she is with a creepy boyfriend. Our worst fear is that she has been sold, or ...
Mother and daughter were the best of friends. Step-dad was 'dad' and she always drove to parties so she could be designated driver and have an excuse to not drink.
If THIS kid was psychologically manipulated, what kid is safe?
THE PREDATORS' PLAYBOOK ... EXPOSED!
LEARN MORE!
Whether predators know it or not, experts across the globe have discovered that cults, sociopaths and human traffickers all follow the same basic 'steps' of 'grooming' to psychologically entrap victims.
The Flying Monkeys Project exists to expose these steps to children, teens, young adults, and women so that they can recognize when someone is trying to take advantage of them, resist them, and (if relevant) report them to authorities.
Gaelen's Story
As I write these words, it is June 1st, Arwen's twentieth birthday, and the second one that she has been away from everyone’s lives who ever loved her. I had a vivid dream about her last night, as I do frequently. I arrived at a campground and she was there waiting for me. We talked everything out. We hugged. She made plans to come home...
Then, as I always do,
I woke up...
What We Do
What is a Flying Monkey?
"Flying Monkey" is a term for a predator's assistants who, like then monkeys in "The Wizard of Oz", surround the potential victim, collaborating the predator's narrative, helping him (or her) to win trust. Though most often related to sex trafficking or cult solicitation, the flying monkeys can also be utilized by the 'creepy older man boyfriend person'.
We have portrayed the flying monkey in partial chains because these persons are often victims, themselves who have been manipulated or demanded to assist the predator.