A missing child from Arizona was recently found in an Olympia homeless encampment after investigators suspected she was being sex trafficked. That fact alone should disturb every one of us.
Beyond the horror lies a harder question: How did we get here?
This tragedy should force us to confront a reality: when disorder becomes normalized, exploitation follows. When vulnerable people are living in chaotic, poorly supervised environments, predators take notice. Homelessness cannot be understood through housing alone. We must talk honestly about addiction, severe mental illness, trauma and the systems that too often leave vulnerable people exposed.
I work in outreach and have walked these spaces. At the blocks in downtown Vancouver and in other encampments, I have seen realities many people prefer not to discuss, including drug trafficking, coercion, violence, exploitation and transactional sex. Ignoring these realities does not make them disappear.
Too often, we soften what is happening with language that sounds compassionate. We tell ourselves people are simply trying to survive. In many cases, that is true. But survival cannot become the standard we accept. Survival should not mean exposure to exploitation, violence, and predation.
As a psychiatric provider, this concerns me. Many of those most at risk struggle with severe addiction, psychosis, brain injury or trauma, conditions that can impair judgment and the ability to recognize danger.
That raises a difficult question: Does a person truly have freedom when severe illness or addiction has impaired their capacity to choose?
Autonomy without capacity is not freedom. In some cases, it becomes abandonment disguised as respect.
Predators understand this, even if policymakers avoid saying it aloud. Drug dealers, traffickers and exploitative partners know that people who are desperate, intoxicated, psychotic, isolated or dependent are easier to manipulate and control. Public disorder is not merely a quality of life issue. It is increasingly a public safety issue, a public health issue, and a human exploitation issue.
Washington has invested billions in homelessness, behavioral health and addiction response, yet too many vulnerable people remain trapped in cycles of instability and crisis. The problem is not just funding. It is also whether our systems actually move people toward recovery.
There is a difference between reducing suffering and enabling dysfunction. Harm reduction can save lives, but it was never meant to become harm acceptance.
People deserve more than a tent, a meal and temporary relief. They deserve safety, treatment and recovery.
None of this means abandoning compassion. We should continue meeting immediate needs. But we must stop confusing temporary survival with meaningful recovery.
When policy fails, the consequences are not abstract. The cost is paid by the most vulnerable among us.
Sometimes, that cost is paid by children.
A missing child found in an encampment should force us to ask whether the systems we have built are truly protecting those who need protection most.
Real compassion does not look away from suffering, and it does not normalize dangerous disorders.
It protects the vulnerable while demanding both care and accountability.
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Sarah Mittelman, DNP, PMHNP-BC, is a Republican candidate for Washington state representative in the 49th Legislative District, Position 1.
