Louisiana's first statewide anti-human trafficking public awareness campaign was launched earlier this year. The First Lady of Louisiana Donna Edwards is leading the initiative, called “Stop Trafficking Louisiana: Human Trafficking is R.E.A.L.” R.E.A.L stands for recognizing the signs, educating others, acting immediately, and listening to survivors. Young teens and young adults often fall prey to these kinds of crime. Mrs. Edwards told me in order to prevent these horrific tragedies, children and adults must educate themselves on this issue.
I don’t think a lot of folks fully grasp the breadth and depth of how disastrous human sex trafficking is.
When you hear these stories about this hideous crime, you can't unhear it or unknow it. I could no longer turn my head the other way when I heard more about these crimes… I felt compelled to get involved by learning more about it myself and how it affected the children and people of our state.
What are the signs to look out for in a human sex trafficked victim, or an instance where a child is trafficked?
We need to be understanding, and we need to be asking the right questions. These young children, women and even men, once they're asked multiple questions, it becomes very obvious that they're not prostitutes, but victims. They’re victims who need help, support and healing… Not to scare our parents, but the average age of a child trafficking victim is 13. Folks may have thought that the child comes from a dysfunctional home, or got with the wrong crowd. There's also the child who gets started on social media at a young age. We must teach our children how to navigate social media. There’s going to come a time when children tune out their parents, so parents train them at a young age to be aware of dangerous things on social media… Also, our children have to understand that their parents love them no matter what, and we must surround them with people they can reach out to when they’re in trouble whether that’s a coach, an aunt, a friend or a neighbor.
Sometimes human sex traffcking reveals itself in a more covert way.
This can happen inside families, and that it’s hard to comprehend. As a former teacher I learned a lot about sex trafficking and trauma. Students may act out in the classroom and the way that child acts really sometimes can alert you to trauma. Not all trauma goes to human trafficking, but lots of times trauma shows itself in a classroom. The abuse could be happening before the child comes to school. It’s important to recognize or be aware of trauma - kids are acting out because they can’t deal with an emotion.
