Though no one wants to believe that trafficking children for sex or labor is a serious problem, we now understand that it is. Trafficking of children takes place throughout the country, in urban, suburban, and rural areas; no place is immune. Trafficking children for sex or labor is a particularly heinous crime that can have devastating consequences for children, including long-lasting physical and psychological trauma. Schools can and do play an extremely important role in preventing trafficking and in interrupting it when it does occur.
To help provide educators an introduction to human trafficking prevention, the U.S. Department of Education developed a staff development series rooted in the latest research and best practice information available, while drawing from the wisdom of individuals with lived experience and trafficking advocates. It includes three brief videos that provide information key to identifying potential trafficking, generating appropriate school-level responses, and efforts to prevent trafficking of students. Each video includes comments by both content and lived experience subject matter experts, as well as reflection questions for educators to consider individually or as a group.
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What Schools Can Look for and Need to Know About Human Trafficking
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Talks about which students are particularly vulnerable to sex and labor trafficking, and the indicators or signs of trafficking that educators and other school personnel should be aware of. |
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How Schools Can Respond to Suspicions of Human Trafficking
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Describes how schools can respond when an educator or other school employee suspects a student may be being trafficked. |
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How Schools Can Help Prevent Human Trafficking
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Shares concrete steps schools can take to protect students from victimization. |
This staff development series complements the guide, Human Trafficking in America’s Schools: What Schools Can Do To Prevent, Respond, and Help Students To Recover From Human Trafficking, released in January 2021, and content shared via the Addressing Human Trafficking in America’s Schools Webinar Series.
Training collateral in the form of supportive posters and social media/website graphics are also available to promote information from the series with staff members.