Trafficking and the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC)

NCHE Resources

Sex Trafficking of Minors: How to Recognize and Respond to the Trafficking of Students
This brief provides educators with an overview of the issue of minor sex trafficking and suggests specific steps that schools can take to respond to signs of trafficking among its students. It also offers suggestions for how State Coordinators for Homeless Education and local homeless education liaisons can help guide their states’ and school districts’ efforts to address trafficking within schools.
Go to Sex Trafficking of Minors: How to Recognize and Respond to the Trafficking of Students.

Other Resources

Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children/Sex Trafficking
This literature review from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention(OJJDP) provides an overview of issues related to the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) and sex trafficking, covering such topics as the definition of CSEC, antitrafficking legislation, characteristics of CSEC and sex trafficked children, pathways to CSEC involvement, and outcome evidence for CSEC prevention and intervention programs.
Download Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children/Sex Trafficking.
Confronting Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States
This report from The Institute of Medicine (IOM) examines the commercial sexual exploitation of minors within the United States. It offers recommendations concerning strategies for responding to commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors in the United States, new legislative approaches, and a research agenda. The report concludes that efforts to prevent, identify, and respond to the commercial sexual exploitation of minors in the United States require better collaborative approaches. These efforts need to confront demand and the individuals who commit and benefit from these crimes. The recommendations in the report have the potential to advance and strengthen the nation’s emerging efforts to prevent, identify, and respond to commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors. 
Download Confronting Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States.
Human Trafficking Awareness for the General Public
This free 1-hour online course from Stanford University Online provides basic training on human trafficking, aiming to educate people on how to spot it and what to do about it in their own communities. The training covers the definition of human trafficking, its prevalence, and the places and industries in which it occurs. It examines whom it affects and the techniques used to force people into trafficking and hold them there. The training assumes no prior knowledge of human trafficking.
Visit the Human Trafficking Awareness for the General Public training webpage.
Human Trafficking in America’s Schools
Human trafficking currently is one of the world’s most profitable criminal enterprises. Trafficking is not only occurring overseas; it is occurring right here in the United States, with schools becoming a target area for recruitment. This pioneering guide, funded through the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Healthy Students, will help school officials understand how human trafficking impacts schools; recognize the indicators of possible child trafficking; and develop policies, protocols, and partnerships to address and prevent the exploitation of children.
Download Human Trafficking in America’s Schools.
National Educators to Stop Trafficking (NEST)
NEST aims to serve as a comprehensive clearinghouse to empower and equip educators by providing youth-focused human trafficking prevention resources. NEST provides age-appropriate human trafficking prevention curricula with the goal of teaching youth how to avoid being trafficked, stand up for victims of trafficking, and spread the word in their communities so that sexual exploitation and human trafficking become a thing of the past.
Visit the National Educators to Stop Trafficking (NEST) website.
National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC): 1-888-373-7888
Operated by Polaris Project, the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) is a national, toll-free hotline, available to answer calls from anywhere in the United States, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year. The NHTRC is not a government entity, law enforcement or an immigration authority. Call for confidential help and information.  
Polaris Project
Polaris Project is one of the leading organizations in the global fight against human trafficking and modern-day slavery. Named after the North Star “Polaris” that guided slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad, Polaris Project is transforming the way that individuals and communities respond to human trafficking in the U.S. and globally. By successfully pushing for stronger federal and state laws, operating the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline (1-888-373-7888), conducting trainings, and providing vital services to victims of trafficking, Polaris Project creates long-term solutions that move our society closer to a world without slavery.
Visit the Polaris Project website.
Visit Polaris Project’s National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline webpage
Download Polaris Project’s Comprehensive Human Trafficking Assessment.
Download Polaris Project’s Human Trafficking Assessment for Runaway and Homeless Youth
Download Polaris Project’s Tools for Educators.
Pretesting a Human Trafficking Screening Tool in the Child Welfare and Runaway and Homeless Youth Systems
Despite the fact that youth involved in the child welfare (CW) and runaway and homeless youth (RHY) systems are particularly vulnerable to being trafficked, there is no consensus screening tool to identify trafficking experiences among such youth. This study from the Urban Institute, developed a Human Trafficking Screening Tool (HTST) and pretested it with 617 RHY- and CW-involved youth. This research established that the screening tool is accessible to youth and easy to administer, and that both the full-length tool and a shorter version were effective in identifying youth who are trafficking victims in RHY and CW systems, though additional research with more youth is needed. 
Download Pretesting a Human Trafficking Screening Tool in the Child Welfare and Runaway and Homeless Youth Systems.
Shining Light on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children: A Toolkit to Build Understanding

Wichita State University Center for Combating Human Trafficking and Youth Collaboratory, in partnership with the Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention, offer this toolkit as a resource for multidisciplinary professionals, policy makers, volunteers, faith communities, and others involved in anti-trafficking work. It provides information on a variety of topics related to human trafficking with a specific focus on mentoring for commercial sexual exploitation victims.
Read Shining Light on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children: A Toolkit to Build Understanding.

Sample Forms, Materials, and Policies

Grossmont Union High School District (CA): Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) Protocol
This school district protocol provides specific guidance on how district employees should respond to suspected recruitment or actual exploitation by a student, a suspected CSEC victim, and/or a confirmed CSEC victim.
Download the Grossmont Union High School District (CA): Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) Protocol.
Madison Metropolitan School District (WI): Trafficking Protocol
This school district protocol provides specific guidance on how district employees should respond to suspected trafficking victims, including when immediate danger may be present.
Download the Madison Metropolitan School District (WI): Trafficking Protocol.
Virginia SB 259 Human Trafficking; Board of Education to Provide Information for Local School Division Staff
This Virginia state law requires the Virginia Board of Education, in collaboration with the Virginia Department of Social Services, to provide awareness and training materials for local school division staff on human trafficking, including strategies for the prevention of the trafficking of children.
View the full text of Virginia SB 259.

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