As human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation continue to make their way into mainstream consciousness, a discussion has surfaced regarding how members of different professions should be trained to properly identify and provide aid to victims. While counselors and social workers are the professionals most would associate with this task, there are many other professionals that encounter victims of trafficking, as well. These professionals are on the “front lines” of identifying trafficking and exploitation. Among these professionals are middle and high school teachers, those who work in healthcare, and utility workers. At first thought, the reasons for training these professionals to identify signs of trafficking may seem obscure. However, if properly trained, these professionals could play a crucial role in identifying potential human trafficking cases and victims.
Teachers
High school and middle school teachers are likely in the best position to identify potential victims of human trafficking. This is because their students are at the most vulnerable ages for trafficking, which can be anywhere between the ages of 12 and 17. Moreover, teachers are often the people young teens see and interact with most. Teachers are with their students five days a week, for eight hours each day, for 9 months of the year. They nourish relationships with students, care for them, and build trust with them. Because of this, teachers could likely be the first people to recognize the signs of commercial sexual exploitation in a child, if they were trained to do so.
Teachers should be trained to recognize several common signs of trafficking in students. These signs include frequent and unexcused absences, exhaustion, loss of interest in age appropriate activities, sudden changes in wardrobe that can include the wearing of expensive clothing or accessories, and interest in older men or evidence of an older boyfriend. (Learn more about the warning signs of trafficking in schools.) These signs can be easily observed by teachers, thus providing training to recognize such red flags is an important step that communities and schools can take to protect children from those who wish to exploit them.
Healthcare Professionals
One study estimates that about 88% of human trafficking victims reported accessing medical care while they were being trafficked. Healthcare professionals, specifically doctors, dental hygienists, and gynecologists have a high likelihood of treating victims as they are being trafficked. People working in these fields have a unique ability to help victims, since they may be the only individuals that the victim will be able to speak to in a one-on-one setting. This allows healthcare providers to ask questions, discern the individual’s situation, and identify indicators of trafficking in patients without their traffickers listening in.
Because of the unique ability healthcare professionals have to observe and interact with victims of trafficking, it is vital that they are trained in recognizing the relevant indicators of a trafficking situation. Sometimes, trafficking can be discerned through physical signs that can include malnutrition, dehydration, poor dental hygiene, untreated skin infections or inflammation, substance abuse issues, and signs of extreme physical or sexual abuse, such as bruises, broken bones, and STDs. It is also important that healthcare providers be trained to recognize other, non-physical, non-verbal signs of trafficking. These signs can include the constant presence of an older man or woman who speaks for the patient and handles all of his/her documents and money, a patient who avoids eye contact and seems fearful or anxious, or a patient that has many inconsistencies in his/her story or seems confused and disoriented. By training healthcare professionals to look for and recognize these signs of trafficking, victims are more likely to be identified and helped.
Utility Workers
Utility workers have an unlikely, but equally crucial part in identifying potential trafficking victims throughout various communities, homes, and neighborhoods. Since these workers are in people’s homes and businesses on a day-to-day basis, they have the opportunity to observe details and indicators of trafficking that no one else may be able to see. Some of the most common indicators in or around homes or businesses include bars on windows, excessive or abnormal locks on doors, doors that lock from the outside, sign in/out sheets posted near doors, and adults ushering children out of sight of windows or into cars. However, many of these signs are easily missed or overlooked. This is why it is essential that utility workers are trained specifically to look for and identify these potential signs of trafficking. If a utility worker believes he has recognized signs of trafficking or has encountered something suspicious, he or she should call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1 (888) 373-7888 to report it.
These every day professionals within our communities are on the “front lines” of identifying potential human trafficking cases and victims. It is critical that teachers, healthcare professionals, and utility workers are trained to look for and recognize signs of human trafficking that they may experience within in their lines of work. Concerned citizens in their professional capacity can make a huge difference and save lives, but they just need to be educated and trained in order to do so.
All views expressed herein are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or of Villanova University.
Lindsay Burrill is a first-year student at the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. Lindsay is from Grand Rapids, Michigan. She has a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Spanish and Clinical Sociology, with an emphasis on Social Justice, from Spring Arbor University. During her time at Spring Arbor, Lindsay worked as the intern for the Spring Arbor University Coalition Against Human Trafficking, where she developed her commitment to addressing the issues of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. During her internship, Lindsay assisted in training counselors and social workers on how to recognize the signs of trafficking and how to treat victims. In addition, she wrote a thesis on human trafficking trends along major highways in Michigan, based on data from “adult” advertisements posted on Backpage.com in 2015 and 2016.