1.
HUMAN
TRAFFICKING
What Schools Need to
Know to Recognize
and Respond to the
Trafficking of Students

2.
Your
Presenters
Chioma Adaku
Founder and Executive Director
Traffik Stops
traffikstops@yahoo.com
Traffik
Stops
is
a
national
coalition
of
individuals,
grassroots
organizations,
and
religious
communities
raising
awareness
about
human
trafficking.

3.
• Traffik Stops raise awareness about
human trafficking in United States.
• Traffik Stops:
– Provides technical assistance and consults with
non-profits, government agencies, law
enforcement, and others on issues related to
trafficking.

4.
NCHE
• NCHE operates the U.S. Department of
Education’s technical assistance center for
the federal Education for Homeless Children
and Youth (EHCY) Program
• NCHE has:
– A comprehensive website: www.serve.org/nche
– A toll-free helpline: 800-308-2145 or
homeless@serve.org
– A listserv: www.serve.org/nche/listserv.php
– Free resources:
www.serve.org/nche/products.php

5.
Today’s Goals
• Gain a greater understanding of the issue of
human trafficking, including
– Federal law and definitions
– Traffickers and their tactics
– Victims and their needs
• Learn how schools can respond to signs of
trafficking among its students
• Know where to go for more information

6.
Why Trafficking?
• Human trafficking is the world’s second most
profitable criminal enterprise, sharing this
position with the illegal arms trade, second only
to the illegal drug trade
• Of the many factors that may increase a young
person’s vulnerability to sex trafficking,
homelessness is widely considered to be the
most direct contributor
• Schools are beginning to see signs of trafficking
among students and are in a unique position to
contribute to preventing and ending the
trafficking of our nation’s children and youth

7.
Proliferation
P
R
R O
I F
S I
K T

8.
Sex trafficking in the USA hits close to home
September 2012
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/09/26/s
trafficking-in-the-usa/1595489/
ex-

9.
Man charged with sex trafficking high school
girls
September 2013
http://www.wmctv.com/story/23384223/man-charged-with-sex-
trafficking-high-school-girls

10.
What is Trafficking?

11.
What do you think?
True or False?
For an activity to be considered
trafficking, the victim must have been
transported across county or state lines.

12.
Federal Law and Definitions
• Victims of Trafficking and Violence
Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA)
– Sex Trafficking: The recruitment, harboring,
transportation, provision, or obtaining of a
person for the purpose of a commercial
sex act
– Commercial Sex Act: Any sex act on
account of which anything of value is
given to or received by any person

13.
Federal Law and Definitions
– Severe Forms of Trafficking: Sex trafficking
in which a commercial sex act is induced
by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which
the person induced to perform such act
has not attained 18 years of age
• Movement across a geographical
boundary is not needed for an activity
to be considered trafficking

14.
Forms of Sex Trafficking
• Prostitution
• Pornography
• Stripping
• Escort services
• “Massage”

15.
The Venues
• Online (social networking, Backpage,
Craigslist)
• Strip clubs
• Residential or commercial brothels
• On the street via pimp- or gang-based
• prostitution
• Fake massage or nail parlors
• Truck stops

16.
The Numbers

17.
What do you think?
True or False?
It is estimated that 1/3 (33%) of youth
victims of trafficking are runaway,
thrownaway, or homeless youth

18.
The Numbers
Some caveats…
Criminal element
Definitional issues
Methodological issues

19.
The Numbers
An estimated 100,000 children are
traded for sex in the United States
each year
The Polaris Project
http://www.polarisproject.org/
human-trafficking/overview

20.
The Numbers
The number of 10- to 17-year olds
involved in commercial sexual
exploitation in the United States each
year likely exceeds 250,000, with 60% of
these victims being runaway,
thrownaway or homeless youth
Congressional testimony
Ernie Allen, President
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
http://judiciary.house.gov/_files/hearings/
pdf/allen100915.pdf

21.
The Numbers
As many as one third of teen runaway
or thrownaway youth will become
involved in prostitution within 48 hours
of leaving home.
Congressional testimony
Ernie Allen, President
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
http://judiciary.house.gov/_files/hearings/
pdf/allen100915.pdf

22.
50%...
The percentage of minors
engaging in commercial sex
for a place to stay
Covenant House
http://www.covenanthouse.org/sites/default/files/
attachments/Covenant-House-trafficking-study.pdf

23.
Trafficking in Virginia
…affects a diverse group of
people

24.
Trafficking in Virginia: One
Organization’s Lens
75% of victims
were trafficked
for sex

25.
Trafficking in Virginia:
One Organization’s Lens
50% were U.S. citizens
50% were foreign born

26.
Trafficking in Virginia:
One Organization’s Lens
Over 80% of victims
entered a trafficking
situation between
ages 15 to25

27.
Questions?

28.
The Traffickers

29.
What do you think?
True or False?
Trafficking victims usually know their
traffickers prior to their being trafficked
(boyfriend, friend, family member, etc.)

30.
Traffickers come from
all walks
of life
and often
know the
victim

31.
“The Massage Therapist”
Houston Massage Therapist Charged In
Child Sex-Trafficking Case
July 2012 http://
myhoustonmajic.hellobeautiful.com/
2805133/houston-massage-therapist-
charged-in-child-sex-trafficking-case/

32.
“The Businessman”
Pimps guilty of trafficking teens to
Kittery, Maine brothel
Boston-based, multi-state trafficking |
November 2009
http://www.seacoastonline.com/
article/20091107/News/911079995

33.
“The Gang Member”
Bloods gang members went to
Brooklyn schools to recruit underage
girls as hookers
New York City | June 2010
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/
crime/bloods-gang-members-
brooklyn-schools-recruit-underage-
girls-hookers-prosecutors-
article-1.180295

34.
In Virginia
• Man plead guilty in Harrisonburg
for trafficking young Honduran girls
• A notoriously violent pimp was
convicted in Henrico County
• 21-year-old female convicted for
trafficking a 13-year-old from North
Carolina to Virginia

35.
Traffickers
exploit
vulnerability
and
manipulate

36.

37.
The Victims

38.
What do you think?
True or False?
According to the FBI, minor victims of
trafficking usually are first trafficked
between the ages of 15 and 17.

39.
• The wounded victim
Misconception

40.
12 to 14…
The average age at which girls first
become victims of prostitution
11 to 13…
The average age at which boys and
transgender youth first become victims
of prostitution

41.
Victim Vulnerabilities
• Homelessness
• Economic vulnerability (poverty, lack of
education, poor employment
opportunities)
• Prior childhood abuse
• The lack of a caring, supportive adult
• LGBT
• History of systems involvement (child
welfare, juvenile justice)
• Disabilities
• Age (inexperience, need to belong,
self-esteem issues)

42.
“The themes of trauma,
abandonment, and
disruption, begun in
childhood, are central to the
narratives of adolescent girls
trafficked into commercial
sexual exploitation. Girls
describe having had a
profound sense of being
alone without resources.”
http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/07/
humantrafficking/litrev/

43.
The Impacts
• Physical injuries/health problems due
to physical and sexual violence (broken
bones, untreated wounds, STDs,
reproductive health problems)
• Mental and emotional health problems
due to psychological trauma (PTSD,
depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation,
despair and hopelessness)
• Changed relationships with self and
others (profound sense of shame and
guilt, inability to trust)

44.
The Impacts
• Substance abuse forced on the victim
by the trafficker or used by the victim
as a coping mechanism for abuse
• Unhealthy bond with the perpetrator (a
“trauma bond”)

45.
Survivor Needs
• Long-term support
• Safety – perceived and actual
• Medical care
• Trauma-based therapy
• Consistency without conditions
• Education
• Healthy social interactions
• Highly individualized care

46.
Schools

47.
Train
school staff

48.
Implement
a protocol

49.
Offer
a prevention curriculum

50.
National Human Trafficking
Resource Center (NHTRC)
In the case of an immediate emergency, call
your local police department or 911.
In the absence of an established protocol,
educators should contact the NHTRC at
1-888-373-7888 to seek guidance.
School personnel should not attempt to
confront a suspected trafficker or rescue a
suspected victim.

51.
Additional Resources
• See the Additional Resources section of
NCHE’s Sex Trafficking of Minors brief at
www.serve.org/nche/briefs.php
• For technical assistance and training visit
www.traffikstops.org or email
traffikstops@yahoo.com
• For a school-based prevention curriculum,
contact Alive & Free
http://www.traffikstops.org

52.
•
What are the warning signs of human trafficking based on sexual
exploitation of a Minor?
Parents, teachers, employers, counselors, nurses, doctors, other professionals and friends of
trafficking victims are often unaware of the abuse that is happening right in front of their eyes.
• Running away from home
• Truancy, chronic absenteeism
• Sudden drop in grades
• Change of friends or alienation from regular friends
• Rumors among students regarding sex activities
• Sudden change in behavior, attitude or attire
• Anger, aggression, being suicidal or fearful
• Claims of a new and mysterious/secretive “boyfriend”
• Use of drugs (i.e. marijuana and ecstasy)
• Weight loss
• Bruises or other physical trauma
• New cell phone or multiple cell phones
• Use of terminology related to prostitution
• Tattoos that are related to pimping/prostitution activity
• Secrecy with social media and phone
• Truancy, chronic absenteeism
• Sudden drop in grades
• Change of friends or alienation from regular friends
• Rumors among students regarding sex activities
• Sudden change in behavior, attitude or attire
• Anger, aggression, being suicidal or fearful
• Claims of a new and mysterious/secretive “boyfriend”
•

53.
• Use of drugs (i.e. marijuana and ecstasy)
• Weight loss
• Bruises or other physical trauma
• New cell phone or multiple cell phones
• Use of terminology related to prostitution
• Tattoos that are related to pimping/prostitution
activity
• Secrecy with social media and phone
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