Preventing Child Trafficking at the School Level - Secondary Tier: Responding to Trafficking

Schools or districts currently utilizing multi-tiered systems of supports, such as Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, are encouraged to also access Addressing the Growing Problem of Domestic Sex Trafficking in Minors Through Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. The resource, created as a complementary document to this guide, provides information on how to utilize existing multi-tiered strategies to help prevent domestic minor sex trafficking and provide assistance to student victims and their families in America’s schools.

Work in this tier involves identifying and responding to suspicions of human trafficking. All school staff should receive basic training in child trafficking, its prevalence and dynamics, and its risk factors and indicators. Some school personnel, by virtue of their connection to students, should be trained more intensively. Those staff include front desk staff, bus drivers, assistant principals, school counselors, social workers, attendance officers, dropout prevention officers, special education teachers, and school nurses. Many organizations offer human trafficking training for educators. One source is SOAR for School-based Professionals, an online training developed by the Office on Trafficking in Persons.

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