U.S. Attorney Thompson Announces Human Trafficking Training Initiative for Educators and Social Workers

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – United States Attorney Will Thompson joined with West Virginia education and human services leaders and federal law enforcement partners today to announce new training tools to help better identify and report human trafficking and rescue child victims.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office partnered with the West Virginia State Police and the West Virginia Center for Children’s Justice to develop training videos specifically for teachers and child protective services workers. The training focuses on the risk factors and vulnerabilities of human trafficking, identifies red flags for human trafficking, and provides ways to respond to suspected human trafficking.

“One thing has really stood out to me when I’ve talked to the victims in the cases we’ve prosecuted: they all say, ‘I wish somebody had realized this sooner,’” Thompson said. “That person who realizes something sooner could be a teacher, it could be a CPS worker, it could be a Little League coach. It could be someone in the community who recognizes it and makes the report.”

Thompson cited grim national statistics that have helped prompt this approach. More than 80 percent of trafficking victims under the age of 10 are trafficked by a family member. More than half of minor victims of human trafficking attend school while being trafficked. Two-thirds of human trafficking victims have been involved in the juvenile justice or foster care system.

“The overall goal is to call attention to human trafficking and share ways we can address it in West Virginia,” Thompson said. “This training will help these professionals as well as anyone in the community recognize human trafficking and know what to do when they recognize it. Some of this, they already know. Some of this is common sense. But if we can save one child from this, if we can get one victim out, it’s worth it and I hope we do a lot more than that.”

Thompson thanked the additional partners supporting this training initiative, who include the West Virginia Board of Education, the West Virginia Department of Education, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the West Virginia Fusion Center.

The videos are available through the West Virginia Center for Children’s Justice and its Handle With Care program (http://www.handlewithcarewv.org).

• Training video for schools: https://vimeo.com/845303381
• Training video for CPS: https://vimeo.com/845301913

 A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia.

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