WASHINGTON – Florida congressional delegation co-chairs Reps. Vern Buchanan and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) announced today they have introduced legislation to help combat human trafficking by educating students about how to properly identify the warning signs. Children account for more than half of all trafficking victims.
“Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery,” Buchanan said. “As we close National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, we need to prioritize educating students and teachers about the horrors of this monstrous crime. This is critical to helping current victims and preventing future instances of trafficking, which is especially important in hotspots like Florida. I look forward to working with Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz to help spread awareness and protect our most vulnerable.”
The Human Trafficking and Exploitation Prevention Training Act would create a grant program within the Office of Trafficking in Persons under the Department of Health and Human Services to provide training for students, teachers and other school personnel on the warning signs of human trafficking. These grants would be issued to nonprofit organizations that have shown expertise in creating and teaching human trafficking and exploitation prevention curricula. The bill also prioritizes funding for nonprofits serving geographic areas with the highest prevalence of human trafficking.
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said, “Schools should be at the center of our strategy to protect young people from human trafficking. In addition to identifying and providing critical services to at-risk youth, they play a crucial role in educating all of us, children and adults, on key warning signs so we are equipped to prevent abductions and abuse. Our education system is one of our greatest strengths, and we must take advantage by providing our schools with the resources to support children who might otherwise fall victim to trafficking."
The bill would authorize $75 million in funding for the program over a five-year period and has been endorsed by The Foundation United based in Sarasota.
Elizabeth Fisher Good, founder and CEO of The Foundation United, said, “There is a significant gap in the school systems throughout the US because most of them are not equipped to prevent sex trafficking and exploitation. Traffickers target children between the ages of 11-15, and this means that schools are on the frontlines of preventing and stopping human trafficking. Curricula for K-12th grade students needs to be available so that every child knows the power of their voice and how to stay safe. Human trafficking has silenced the voice of countless children in our own backyard and has often left educators feeling helpless to protect students. We applaud US Representatives Vern Buchanan and Deborah Wasserman Schultz for their leadership and initiative to protect our children and shore up this critical gap.”
While there is little precise information and statistics on trafficking due to its covert and illegal nature, it is estimated that there are hundreds of thousands of victims currently working in exploitative conditions in the sex, beauty or hospitality industries.
In 2021, Florida had the third-highest number of human trafficking cases reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
According to an October 2022 report by the Florida’s Department of Children and Families, the Suncoast region had the second-most human trafficking reports of any region in the state. Orange, Miami-Dade and Hillsborough Counties had the highest number of human trafficking reports received by the Florida Abuse Hotline.
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