The Texas Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force today convened in Austin at the Travis County Center for Child Protection to discuss the State’s collaborative efforts to combat human trafficking. Task Force Chairman Attorney General Abbott addressed the task force and issued the following statement about a new resource developed by the Attorney General’s Office and the task force to help Texas education professionals recognize and report instances of suspected human trafficking:
“Human trafficking poses a very real threat to young Texans. The Office of the Attorney General’s human trafficking prevention guide for education professionals is designed to equip Texas school personnel with the knowledge they need to understand human trafficking, recognize how it might look for children in their schools, realize why this pervasive crime must be reported, and take the proper steps when reporting suspected instances of the crime. Texas education professionals’ ability to recognize and report suspected human trafficking is essential to protecting the integrity of our classrooms and the innocence of our children.”
| Human Trafficking: a Guide for Texas Education Professionals |
During his address to the Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force, Attorney General Abbott noted that the human trafficking guide for education professionals – which can be found on the attorney general’s website – provides Texas school personnel with information that will further the task force’s efforts to identify, investigate and prosecute human traffickers such as:
- The realities of human trafficking,
- Federal and state laws defining and prohibiting human trafficking,
- Human trafficking as a form of child abuse,
- Risk factors for school-aged children,
- Indicators of human trafficking,
- Approaches to responding to an outcry,
- Mechanism to report human trafficking, and
- Proactive approaches for school districts.
In 2009, the State of Texas took major steps to fight human trafficking by creating the Texas Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force. Attorney General Abbott chairs the task force, which issues the “Texas Response to Human Trafficking” report prior to each legislative session. The 83rd Texas Legislature enacted new laws that combined all of the recommendations presented in the task force’s 2012 report, which is accessible on the Office of the Attorney General’s website at www.texasattorneygeneral.gov.
Share the news.
