Dear Vaughn Families:
As you already know, human trafficking is considered a form of modern slavery. It involves exploiting people often through force, fraud, or coercion for forced labor, commercial sex, or both of these acts. The victims of human trafficking include men, women, boys, girls, as well as transgender individuals lured by promises of a better life in the United States. The International Labour Organization estimates, in 2012, that children represented 26 percent (or 5.5 million) of the 20.9 million victims worldwide. Both U.S. citizens and foreign national children are trafficked for sex and labor in the United States. Many child victims of human trafficking are students in the American school system. School administrators and staff need to be aware that cases of child trafficking are being reported in communities throughout the nation. No community, urban, rural, or suburban, school, socioeconomic group, or student demographic is immune. Few crimes are more abhorrent than child trafficking, and few crimes are more challenging for communities to recognize and address. For many people, the reality of trafficking in their community is difficult to comprehend, let alone confront. For educators and school personnel, the reality of these crimes, and the severity of their impact are cause for a call to action. Schools can and should be safe havens for students, and even more so for some students whose lives are otherwise characterized by instability and lack of safety or security.
In these cases, school personnel are uniquely well-positioned to identify and report suspected abuse and connect students to services, actions that can prevent trafficking, and even save lives. Everyone who is part of the school community, administrators, teachers, maintenance personnel, food service staff, resource officers, and other school community members, has the potential to be an advocate for child victims of human trafficking. School community members must learn the indicators of the crime, its warning signs, and how to respond when a student is an apparent victim. Attached, please find additional facts provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, that will help bring more light to this serious concern as well as additional resources.
