THE photo is heartbreaking. A girl, little more than a child herself, proudly holds her baby in her arms.

On her wedding finger glints a gold band. For while she may be well below the age of consent, she isn’t an unmarried teenage mum, but a child bride.

9 Ava in the hospital with daughter Destany, who she had at 13 Credit: Ava Moses

This isn’t a poverty-stricken rural village in a developing nation - this is America. Nor is Ava’s story an isolated case.

In a four-part series, starting today, Sun Online investigates the shocking issue of child marriage in the US, where almost a quarter of a million children - some as young as 10 - have been legally married since 2000.

The statistics are staggering: marriage under the age of 18 is legal in every U.S. state, while 25 states - including California, New Jersey and Nevada - have NO minimum age requirement for marriage whatsoever.

The sickening phenomenon overrides statutory rape laws - meaning in many states adults can legally have sex with young children if they are married.

Child marriage in the US: the facts - Child marriage is legal in 50 states - 207,468 children were married in the US between 2000 and 2015 - 25 states, including California, Nevada, Washington, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New Jersey have no minimum age for a child to marry - In most states the minimum marriage age is 18 - but exceptions in each of these states allow those younger than 18 to marry with parental consent and/or judicial approval - Three 10-year-old girls were married to men aged, 24, 25 and 31 in Tennessee in 2001 - A 14-year-old girl married a 74 year-old man in Alabama, according to official state statistics - In New Jersey alone 3,500 children were married between 1995 and 2012

Most states require permission from a parent or a judge to marry, but as our investigation reveals, this is easy to obtain and does nothing to stop youngsters being forced into marriage.

Experts fear the true number of child marriages may be even higher as some states do not release statistics and religious marriages - or those that take place in cult-like environments - are not reported.

In this heart-wrenching new series, four child marriage survivors share their harrowing stories…

9

Ava's story

Ava Moses had just turned 13 when her mother picked her up early from school and took her to the local courthouse to appear in front of the judge.

But Ava wasn’t in any trouble - instead she was going to ask the court’s permission to get married.

Her father, who was in the army, was an abusive alcoholic - and Ava thought marrying her 18-year-old boyfriend David would be her ticket to safety and happiness.

In Louisiana, a 13-year-old needs just one parent’s permission - along with approval from a judge - to tie the knot.

9 Ava at 13 just after she got married Credit: Ava Moses

Ava, who had three siblings, had been brought up by her grandmother until she died when she was eight.

“I was pretty much grown-up at ten,” says Ava. “My father was an alcoholic and abusive to my mother. He even tried to have sex with me so I grew up pretty early on."

The youngster had pretty much lived on her own, sleeping at friends' houses - so when she and her boyfriend fell in love at 13 she believed he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her and agreed to marry him.

Ava’s mother was easy to persuade - as David had promised to pay all her bills if she approved the marriage.

Equally the judge in the small town of Livingston Parish, Louisiana, took little convincing.

After a short chat he granted Ava permission to marry - warning the couple not to return to him should they ever want to divorce.

As she walked to the nearby Justice of the Peace’s office for the short ceremony, wearing the same clothes she wore to school - a long sleeve flowery top and maroon trousers - young Ava thought all her troubles were over.

9 Ava had two children by age 16 Credit: Ava Moses

'We got a cheeseburger then just went home'

“During the ceremony I thought ‘I've been through hell in my little life and it's all gonna be OK from here,’ she says.

“I just thought I’m going to be a wife and a mother now and everything's gonna be fine now - I’m saved. But looking back it had only just begun.”

Their simple wedding ceremony was attended only by their mothers.

“Afterwards the Justice of the Peace gave us the wedding fee back and told us to go get something to eat. We got a cheeseburger then just went home - there was no celebration or anything.”

9 Ava with her husband Credit: Ava Moses

Little did she know she was taking the first steps on a heartbreaking path in which she would suffer mental and physical abuse, teen pregnancies - and eventually drug addiction and her children being taken away from her.

“When I was 13 I fell in love. I was young, I was naïve. I had no idea how things were and I just thought I was in love and I was ready."

America’s shocking child bride epidemic Read more harrowing stories from child marriage survivors in Sun Online's heart-wrenching series Naila: ‘I was engaged at 8, married at 15 then repeatedly raped by my husband’. Angel: ‘I was 13 when my mum made me get married in our living room – then she told us to have sex in a room next door’. Sherry: 'I was forced to marry my rapist aged just 11 after he got me pregnant at 9'.

Abuse, pregnancy and cheating

Thirteen-year-old Ava fell pregnant quickly - but the relationship soon turned abusive.

“He was mentally really abusive. He was cheating on me - I busted him eight times within the first year,” she said.

9 Ava has now rebuilt her life Credit: Ava Moses

“I dreaded the weekends because he would drop me off at my sister’s or my grandmother’s, pregnant and just crying, and I would wait for him to come back.

“And then he would come back on Monday when he was finished doing what he was doing.

“He would disappear for three or four days at a time. And then come back, and get me back.

“I went through years of abuse - mostly mental, a few times physical.

Ava had her first baby Destany - a girl - at 14 and a son David at 16.

9 Ava said she was in love with her boyfriend but the relationship soon turned abusive Credit: Ava Moses

She almost lost David because she was so malnourished during pregnancy - down to dieting and the couple having no money for doctor’s visits or vitamins.

Age 16, weighing only 116 pounds and eight months pregnant, Ava’s mother took her in.

However the chaos of her home-life meant she still ended up at a hospital in Nashville, terrified and giving birth alone.

“I had no clue what I was doing, where I was going, I didn't even know how to get the medicine I needed and I couldn't eat,” Ava remembers.

“I had to go get a voucher from the lady at Social Services to get me a burger.

9 Ava is now happily married to husband Henry Credit: Ava Moses

“My husband was living two hours away - he showed up and started abusing me while I was in labour telling me there baby wasn’t his and the nurse threw him out.

“After the baby came, he was taken to the ICU and I had to sleep in the waiting room.

“I couldn't get in to a Ronald Mcdonald House for homeless mothers because I wasn't 18 and they didn't want to be responsible for me.

“I didn’t know what to do - I knew no one. I couldn’t even see my baby.

“It was just horrible, horrible, horrible experience.”

9 Ava has now got her life back on track and hopes to regain custody of her youngest son who she describes as her 'world' Credit: Ava Moses

Picking up the pieces

Ava finally left her husband at 18 - but the emotional scars she suffered remain with her today, even at age 36.

Drug addiction, depression and a string of abusive relationships meant she lost custody of her children at 21.

She had a third child with her second husband - but lost custody of him also.

Ava has been drug-free for some time now, works as a preacher at her local church, has happily remarried and hopes to one day to regain custody of her youngest child.

But she has no doubt that her problems stemmed from her child marriage.

“I don't understand why anybody thinks it is OK to put children in these situations.

“A child does not know what they want or what they need - that’s why you need a parent to say no.

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“I wish I had a mama that said no or cared enough to set boundaries - it just wasn't there for me.

"I love my mama with all my heart and I know she did the best she could with what she had - but it was hard for her she had been abused for 17 years by my father."

“Child marriage is absolutely insane - I don't agree with it at all," she said.

Tomorrow, Naila recalls her ordeal of becoming engaged at 8 then forced to get married at 15.