Ways to Combat Child Trafficking

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month, and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is partnering with The Power Project to train group home and residential care facility staff across Illinois on how to identify, intervene and prevent human trafficking among their youth in treatment. Nearly 1,000 congregate care staff in 37 facilities across the state completed Commercial Sexual Exploitation 101 training in 2002.

Often, victims of human trafficking do not seek help because they are fearful, ashamed of their situation, distrust law enforcement or become dependent on the perpetrator. The Illinois Safe Children Act assures that children who are coerced into human trafficking or prostitution are innocent and immune from criminal prosecution and will be placed in the child welfare system with DCFS instead of the criminal justice system.

KNOW THE SIGNS. A trafficked child might:

--Have an adult control them by speaking for them

--Seem out of place given the time of day or night

--Look disheveled or dressed in clothes that they could not afford to buy

--Show signs of physical abuse such as bruising or red marks

--Not possess any form of identification

--Perform inappropriate work for their age and not be compensated

Anyone who believes a child might be trafficked, or in danger of being trafficked, should immediately call 911 and the DCFS Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-25-ABUSE (1-800-252-2873).