First Things First: Preventing human trafficking begins with awareness

sad woman in depression and despair crying on black dark background
sad woman in depression and despair crying on black dark background

An alert American Airlines ticket agent was recently hailed a hero after preventing two teen girls from becoming part of a human trafficking scam. The girls showed up with one-way first-class tickets to New York City from California. They had no identification on them, and the agent discovered the tickets were purchased with a fraudulent credit card. The suspicious ticket agent denied the girls' tickets. While the teens walked over to a Starbucks table and made a call, the ticket agent alerted authorities.

Authorities learned that a guy had invited the girls to New York City for the weekend so they could earn $2,000 performing in music videos and modeling. The teens had no idea their tickets were one-way.

Who wouldn't be excited about earning $2,000 in a weekend? Human traffickers often portray themselves as agents to connect young people to their dream career or to easy money. But that's not the only way people end up being trafficked. Stories abound of people being preyed upon in stores, at truck stops and online.

Research indicates that while human traffickers look for the most vulnerable at-risk youth, even young people who have loving, caring parents can fall victim to traffickers.

According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's website:

» In the United States, on average, every two minutes, a child is bought or sold for sex.

» The average age of a child sold for sex is 13 years old.

» Human trafficking is the second-fastest growing criminal industry, just behind drug trafficking.

"According to the Counter-Trafficking Data Collaborative, 41 percent of those who are trafficked are trafficked by family members," says Emily Adkins, director of survivor services at Second Life, an anti-human- trafficking nonprofit in Tennessee. "Many people have this stereotype in their mind of the kind of person that is trafficked, when, in reality, victims of human trafficking come from literally all walks of life."

Todd Womack, Sen. Bob Corker's chief of staff, happened to hear a human-trafficking-focused sermon delivered by International Justice Mission's Gary Haugen at Passion City Church in Atlanta a few years ago. At the end of Haugen's talk, he made a plea to attendees, saying the only way to end human trafficking is if everybody looks around and decides what they can do to shed light on this tragedy in their own sphere of influence. Womack and Corker took that call to heart and began working with the End It Movement and other nonprofit organizations to envision, develop and pass into law the End Modern Slavery Initiative Act, which is now operating as the Global Fund To End Modern Slavery.

You may be wondering what parents and concerned community citizens can do to help prevent young people from becoming human trafficking victims.

Here are some ways anyone can help.

» Get educated. Educate yourself and family members, especially your teens, and friends about the signs of human trafficking. The more educated you are, the more prepared you will be to stop it.

» Be alert. Whether you are in a restaurant, airport, walking on the street, at a sporting event or getting a pedicure, you can help prevent children from becoming victims - just like the American Airlines agent. If something looks suspicious, alert authorities by calling 911 or the 24-hour National Human Trafficking Resource Center line at 1-888-373-7888. Tennessee's own trafficking hotline is 855-558-6484.

» Teach your children good internet safety skills. Know who is in your kids' social network. Many predators connect with teens on social media and begin grooming them - then they do exactly as the person did with the two girls headed to New York City. They offer them something too good to be true, but even though they may know their parents wouldn't approve, they aren't quite discerning enough to realize they could be getting themselves into a dangerous situation.

» Talk with your teens about healthy sexuality. Help them to know that sex is not a commodity to be bought and sold.

No matter the size of your platform, everyone can do something. Turner Matthews, who interned in Sen. Corker's office, learned of the End It Movement two years ago. Upon returning to his school, he painted a huge rock on campus known as the "The Rock With a Red X." This year he not only painted "The Rock With a Red X," he also created an event around it to bring attention to human-trafficking issues. He, like so many others, is using his personal sphere of influence to bring light to the problem.

What will you do?

Julie Baumgardner is president and CEO of family advocacy nonprofit First Things First. Contact her at julieb@firstthings.org.

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