January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month!

What is Human Trafficking though? Check out the video below from the U.S. Department of Defense!

Human trafficking is a crime in which force, fraud or coercion is used to compel a person to perform labor, services or commercial sex. It affects all populations: adults, children, men, women, foreign nationals and U.S. citizens, and all economic classes. (DoD)

Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery and has no place in our community, YET IT HAPPENS HERE – IN OUR HOME TOWN, THROUGHOUT TEXAS and Nationwide!

January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month so I wanted to share more about this with you! Help spread the Awareness!!

What are some ways you can help prevent this?

• Get Informed about Human Trafficking
• Learn the Signs of Human Trafficking
• Get involved with a local organization that helps STOP Human Trafficking
• Students: Start an organization at your school if there isn’t one to raise awareness! Start fundraisers! The average age of a trafficked victim in the U.S. is 12 to 14-year-old.
• Parents: Encourage your child’s school to add Human Trafficking lessons to their curriculum! Could just save a child’s life by learning the signs!
• Be a conscientious and informed consumer. Discover your slavery footprint, ask who picked your tomatoes or made your clothes, or check out the Department of Labor’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor. Encourage companies to take steps to investigate and prevent human trafficking in their supply chains and publish the information, including supplier or factory lists, for consumer awareness. (DoS)
• Contact your Local and State Representatives to see what they are doing to stop this and what you can do to get involved!
• Share articles and posts you see on Social Media! You have no idea who might need to see it or how much it could save someone else’s life! May even spark someone’s interest to get involved too!

For more information, check out another article I wrote: Human Trafficking Statistics in Texas

A Non-Profit organization that I work with, New Life Refuge Ministries, is working to combat human trafficking through EDUCATION for the purpose of  awareness and prevention, PARTNERSHIPS to end the demand and a REFUGE of hope and healing for child survivors. Check them out if you’d love to get involved in helping STOP this! They are currently working on building the ONLY Home for BOY Survivors in Texas!! Currently there are less than 30 beds available for survivors of domestic minor sex trafficking in the state of Texas and their ministry hopes to open between 28-42 beds once the campus is fully developed and operational!

We invite EVERYONE to join the fight to End Child Trafficking

ALSO National #WearBlueDay is January 11th to promote Awareness of this horrific crime.  Share your photos with us on Facebook/Twtitter/Instagram!! You know we will be wearing Blue tomorrow!!

If you suspect Human Trafficking please contact:

Awareness & Prevention are key to Ending Child Trafficking!
Hotline: 1-888-373-7888
Text: 233733
https://humantraffickinghotline.org/

Another way to help: SAVE this number to your phone to make it easier and faster to call or help someone!!