After a year of online learning and youth continuing to be home alone, parents and caregivers can often think that they have established appropriate internet rules and boundaries: “Don’t talk to people you don’t know”, “don’t give out personal information/tell people where you live”, or “set your profile to private”. While these are important rules and boundaries to establish, it …
5 Things To Know About Human Trafficking Prevention
January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, also known as Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Much of the fight against human trafficking involves preventing it in the first place, so it is important to understand what that includes. Better understanding human trafficking prevention can help you move from awareness to action. As you consider how you will engage in …
Why You Are Uniquely Positioned To Help End Human Trafficking
When you first hear of human trafficking, perhaps you feel overwhelmed. With numbers and statistics in the millions, it is hard to imagine what you can do. Perhaps you learned about it happening overseas, and you think you can only support from afar or take a trip there. Or maybe, when you really think about it, it appears so dark …
Internet Safety | The Unknown Dangers
In 2019, the CyberTipline received over 16.9 million reports of online exploitation of children. It’s hard to comprehend these figures. Yet with new games, apps, and websites readily available in a single click, many youth face dangers downloading, uploading, sharing, and connecting on the Internet. These apps and games may appear harmless on the surface, but do you know the …
Aging Out of Foster Care | A Daunting Challenge
Guest post by Annie Evelsizer For many youth on their 18th birthday of their senior year of high school, there is a desire to host a party to celebrate their first small step towards adulthood. There are worries over what should be worn, what snacks to serve, if anyone was left anyone out, and if there would be enough time …
How Can You Say “Yes”?
*This post is by guest blogger Annie Evelsizer. This story is inspired by true events and real people. As a respite care provider in the foster care system, she agreed to care for a bubbly and busy 11-month-old boy over a long weekend so his foster parents could take a family vacation. With three elementary aged biological children of …
From At-Risk to Advocate: Equipping and Empowering Students
As we continue our Back-to-School series, there cannot be enough emphasis on equipping and empowering students. From At-Risk to Advocate When we engage with communities, we often hear from parents, family members, teachers, or school staff about their concerns for the vulnerabilities students face. Whether through social media, the Internet, or socially, teens can be at-risk and not even know …
In the Headlines
Take a moment to see what is happening in the news, nationally and internationally, to address human trafficking and the connected vulnerabilities. Take down of the largest darknet child pornography website | Earlier this month, U.S. and international agencies arrested and charged 337 users of the website that used Bitcoin to purchase videos. The operation resulted in the seizure …
Domestic Violence Awareness Month: Addressing Misconceptions
20,000 calls a day are placed to domestic violence hotlines. While you may know that October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, do you know what you can do to help your local programs that serve domestic violence survivors? This month, we had the privilege of talking with several domestic violence programs to learn about their greatest needs, obstacles that …
Schools and Human Trafficking: Response and Protocol
If we know students are at-risk of human trafficking and exploitation, then what are schools doing to respond? Schools, teachers, professors, administrators, school nurses, bus drivers, SROs, custodial staff, coaches, advisors, and more are uniquely and strategically positioned to engage. University staff and educators regularly interact with students, notice when they are not present, and are aware of behavioral and …