General exploitation is treating a person unfairly to benefit from their work. Exploitation can involve the use of threats, manipulation, or force to get someone to do something they do not want to do for the benefit of another person. It can take many forms; it could look like an employer forcing an employee to work for little or no pay or it could look like a romantic partner threatening harm if their partner doesn’t perform sex acts for money, drugs, or a place to stay.

This site has resources where teens can learn what exploitation looks like and how it starts, and learn to say no and protect themselves and others.

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Blue Campaign is a national public awareness campaign designed to educate the public, law enforcement, and other industry partners to recognize the indicators of human trafficking, and how to appropriately respond to possible cases. Blue Campaign works closely with DHS Components to develop general awareness trainings, as well as specific educational resources to help reduce victimization within vulnerable populations.

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Human Trafficking Webinar Series from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Office of Safe and Supportive Schools, the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE)

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Child labor trafficking doesn’t just happen in other countries, it also takes place here in the United States. Students who are forced to work long hours, often before they can complete schoolwork, or in dangerous jobs are less equipped to achieve in school given the trauma of their forced labor.

This webinar will explore what labor trafficking looks like in the United States and talk to subject matter experts, individuals with lived experience, and practitioners about how you can support students who are involved in labor trafficking.

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NBC News article 7/7/22

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More than three-quarters of foster children who went missing in four populous states were not screened after they were found to identify whether they had been victims of sex trafficking, in violation of federal law, according to a newly released federal audit.

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The report by the inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services found that in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Illinois, the vast majority of recovered foster children were not screened, despite evidence that missing children are often sexually exploited. 

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Human Trafficking Webinar Series from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Office of Safe and Supportive Schools, the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE)

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The values, beliefs, and stereotypes we all have affect how we perceive our world and the people in it. Unfortunately for all of us, sometimes these can become biases. 

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This webinar shared how bias affects the identification and support of students involved in human trafficking; provide suggestions on how we can lessen the impact of bias, inequities, and injustices in this work; and offer some examples of techniques, practices, and policies that help ensure a more equitable approach to supporting students impacted by human trafficking.

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NCMEC, Safety Pledge Toolkit: This Toolkit addresses children as young as Kindergarten Age through teens.  There are fun videos, questions to answer in the toolkit, and printable resources.

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NCMEC - NetSmartz, Recourses for Parents, Educators, & Communities: https://www.missingkids.org/netsmartz/resources
*This site has a tremendous amount of resources, below is just a sampling.

Online Enticement

Sexting & Sextortion

Talking to Teens about Sexting: 

• English

• Español

You Sent a Sext, Now What?:

• English

• Español

Gaming Safety Tips:

• English

• Español

Parents' Guide to Smart Phone Safety:

• English

• Español

Cyberbullying

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Internet Safety Concepts, App Guide for CT Parents:

• English

• Español

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Love 146 is a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) non-profit international human rights organization journeying alongside children impacted by trafficking today, and preventing the trafficking of children tomorrow. Tom Dutcher, the LOVE 146 Prevention Advisory Specialist and Navigator in charge of Education, discussed Human Trafficking 101. The program was comprehensive and interactive, focusing on: What is human trafficking, Who is vulnerable, Who does the exploiting, What services does LOVE 146 provide, and What can we do? 

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Other sites and materials referenced during in-service:

• General Hotline & Red Flags Poster

• Polaris Project: Recognizing Sex Trafficking (https://polarisproject.org/sex-trafficking/)

• Polaris Project: Recognizing Labor Trafficking (https://polarisproject.org/labor-trafficking/)

• Thorn.org: Builds technology to defend children from sexual abuse

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Administration for Children & Families 4/15/22

Preventing child abuse before it occurs requires proactively addressing potential vulnerabilities using a whole-family approach. It is important to meet families where they are at. Providing direct support to parents bolsters prevention for children by reducing the likelihood of abuse, entry into the child welfare system, and the risk of human trafficking. 

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Child welfare professionals and others can partner with parents to build strengths and resilience, develop coping strategies, and establish social connections. They can also identify areas where families need assistance, including expanding access to necessities like housing and employment opportunities. Promoting these protective factors targets the root causes of maltreatment. The 2021/2022 Prevention Resource Guide (PDF) from the HHS Children’s Bureau outlines other prevention strategies that encourage sustainable wellbeing. 

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New York Times article, March 9, 2022

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A Bronx couple used foster care to exploit vulnerable young women, prosecutors and a woman who had been placed in their home said.

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The ease with which the Mitchells deceived the foster care system to gain access to vulnerable young women revealed a blind spot in how foster homes are vetted and monitored in New York State. And it highlights a pervasive risk for foster youth, who remain targets of sex traffickers despite government safeguards.

Rozyn was trafficked by her mother as a child and went on to become a sex worker as an adult. She talks about her journey to change her life and help others change theirs.

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The full conversation between Tammy and Theresa can also be heard in podcast form at: https://www.womensconsortium.org/podcast

HART is DCF's (Human Anti-trafficking Response Team): https://portal.ct.gov/DCF/HART/Home

US Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime – Resource for webinars and materials

Including: Child Victims and Witnesses Support Materials - Human Trafficking

Based on the input of national experts, these materials are intended to teach child and youth victims of trafficking between the ages of 12−18 about—

• how the justice system works,

• what their rights are,

• the roles of the different practitioners they might meet, and

• how they can cope with the difficult feelings they might have.

Each graphic novel includes excerpts from individuals with lived experience, who offer support and information to the reader who might find themselves in a similar situation.

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Shared Hope is developing comprehensive tools for parents, teachers, and all those working with youth to protect children from the traps predators lay with a plan to get these tools into as many adult hands as possible. They will raise awareness of grooming tactics, equip adults with knowledge of technology dangers, and provide tangible “how-to” safety tips.

CAC’s in-service training featured Tammy Sneed, Director of DCF’s Human Anti-Trafficking Response Team (HART).  Tammy is a well-recognized authority on human trafficking across the state.   

Vulnerable children are targets of human trafficking at higher rates than the general public.  This DCF training provided some general background about CT child trafficking and assisted participants in identifying victims of child trafficking as well as provided tips on how best to respond and support identified trafficking victims. Tammy provided definitions, info on federal and state legislation related to human trafficking, prevalence of child sex and labor trafficking in CT, pathways to victimization, warning signs, impact to the victims, and who are the buyers/exploiters of this crime.  

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Resources for Keeping Kids Safer Online:

• HT Training Descriptions

• HT Training - Intro to Child Trafficking PowerPoint (no videos)

• Internet Safety/ App Guides (English and Spanish)

• DMST Language of the Life

• Decision Map (CTs Screening Instrument)

HART Webpage:

https://portal.ct.gov/DCF/HART/Home

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World Without Exploitation: The movement to end human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Every day in America tens of thousands of people are trafficked and sexually exploited. Millions more are bought, sold, and exploited worldwide. After decades of extraordinary political, economic, and social progress, why are so many people still being purchased like products? World Without Exploitation was created to confront that question. Our movement was born of a series of conversations among exploitation and trafficking survivors, human rights and gender justice advocates, artists, activists, and direct service providers. We’re united in the belief that we won’t end exploitation until we confront its root causes. We know that an injustice that goes unseen is an injustice that goes unchallenged. And challenging a world in which human beings are being trafficked and exploited is what World Without Exploitation is all about.

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The Now & Next Speakers Series is a webinar program that supports World Without Exploitation's collective commitment to creating a world where no person is bought, sold or exploited. The Speakers Series features movement leaders and opinion shapers sharing best practices, presenting new research, and exploring innovative ways to make their movement more effective and inclusive.​

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Resources for Keeping Kids Safer Online:

• Protecting Your Kids Online 2.0

• NetSmartz PowerPoint Presentations -  free, multimedia internet safety presentations tailored for specific audiences — parents and communities, teens, tweens, and younger children

• Safety Pledge: https://safetypledge.org/

• SaferKid™ App Reviews

• FaceBook Parenting Tips

• Tip Sheet: You Sent a Sext Now What

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Materials from the session:

Slides

Frequently Asked Questions

Stages of Change

Resiliency in survivors of human trafficking: An exploratory study of clinicians’ perspectives of protective factors

Needs of CSEC Victims

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Article from The Washington Post 

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Chrystul Kizer, a 19-year-old who could face life in prison on charges of murdering her alleged sex trafficker, was freed from a Wisconsin jail on Monday after two years awaiting trial.

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Her $400,000 bond was paid by the Chicago Community Bond Fund, an advocacy group that has been flooded with donations in recent weeks as it worked to free protesters jailed during demonstrations that erupted after the police killing of George Floyd. Kizer walked out of the Kenosha County Detention Facility carrying two trash bags full of letters she has received from supporters.

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January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. The resources below are designed to help agencies support survivors of sex trafficking and minors at risk of sexual exploitation:

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• “At Risk for Sex Trafficking: Youth Who Run Away From Foster Care” data snapshot

• “Collaborating With Youth-Serving Agencies to Respond to and Prevent Sex Trafficking of Youth” brief

• Child Welfare Response to Child and Youth Sex Trafficking, Parts 1–3, learning experiences (available on CapLEARN, the Center’s virtual learning site)

• “Identifying Minors and Young People Exploited Through Sex Trafficking: A Resource for Child Welfare Agencies” brief

• “Summary: National Convening on Trafficking and Child Welfare” report

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New Canaan and Darien Magazine article by Timothy Dumas

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Krishna Patel, a former federal prosecutor in Connecticut, and Rod Khattabi, a former special agent based in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s New Haven office, are two of the state’s leading authorities on human trafficking. “This happens in Greenwich,” Patel says. “It happens in Fairfield. It happens in Westport and in all of these towns.” Sex trafficking happens in myriad ways, not all of them gritty and streetwise. Indeed, trafficking could be going on in the house next door.

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Though trafficking is an age-old practice, it strikes us as a twenty-first century phenomenon because it’s expanding so rapidly, and because we have a better understanding of the staggering numbers: Roughly 40 million humans are enslaved in some fashion—more than at any other time in history, according to the Polaris Project, which seeks to eradicate global human trafficking. “We have to get people to stop thinking it’s only happening in India or Cambodia or Bangladesh. They need to know that it’s happening here, and it’s growing.”

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Without someone to take notice of red flags, youth can easily fall into dangerous environments. Victims of human trafficking come from all walks of life and can be anyone, regardless of race, color, national origin, disability, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, or citizenship status. Traffickers frequently prey on individuals who are poor, vulnerable, living in an unsafe situation, or are in search of a better life.

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The biggest needs in Connecticut are better and expanded laws around protections for victims and prosecution of buyers, additional provider services, schools ensuring their staff are trained as mandated by existing law and allowing youth education into the schools.

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Handout and PowerPoint presentation from the "Understanding and Supporting Victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children" session that was presented at the National CASA Conference in Boston on 3/12/18.

The session was led by Katryn Little, Clinical Director at My Life My Choice in Boston.

 

Love146 is an international human rights organization working to end child trafficking and exploitation through survivor care and prevention.  Love146's prevention education curriculum is designed to teach youth how to protect themselves from human trafficking and exploitation through information, critical thinking, and skill development. It uses a holistic approach focusing on respect, empathy, individual strengths, and the relationship between personal and societal pressures that create or increase vulnerabilities.

The group's professional training efforts are spread throughout the U.S. and Asia, providing professionals, with the tools they need to prevent the trafficking of children, as well as identify and support victims.

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Article in the Norwalk Hour.

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A map of sex trafficking arrests in Connecticut during the past 10 years would show them occurring frequently at lodging establishments on highways near larger cities, but also along Route 15 and all the interstates. FBI Special Agent Wendy Bowersox said, “95 is definitely one of our hotspots,” from the New York line to the casinos.

Called “a gripping legal thriller” (Esquire), “a powerful call to action” (The Los Angeles Times), “the rare social-issue documentary that has an effect on a social issue” (The Washington Post), I AM JANE DOE chronicles the epic battle that several American mothers are waging on behalf of their middle-school daughters, victims of sex-trafficking on Backpage.com, the adult classifieds site that for years was part of the Village Voice. Reminiscent of Erin Brockovich and Karen Silkwood, these mothers have stood up on behalf of thousands of others, fighting back and refusing to take no for an answer. It is a gut-wrenching human story and fresh look at a social and legal issue that affects every community in America.

The film may be available on: Netflix, iTunes, Vimeo, Google Play, Amazon, and DVD

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Information regarding a 12-week social media campaign aimed at prevention of human trafficking and sexual exploitation of youth.