CC Future Mobility Nov 2023 V2

Opinion: Protect your child from becoming a victim

by | Jan 16, 2019 | Opinion

The internet is a wealth of information, but it is also a place where danger is just one click away.

Today, most teens have access to a smartphone or a computer, however, many adults are unaware of the risks this connectivity poses.

Pew Research Center reports that 45 percent of teens are online almost constantly via phone, computer or gaming device. With this type of access, social media is increasingly being exploited to contact, recruit and sell children for sex according to the University of Toledo Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute.

Does it scare you? If not, it should. If your child has a device, they are at risk. With a simple click, they have the ability to connect with strangers anywhere in the world. As parents we need to step up our game to stay ahead of sneaky teens and potential pedophiles. We must be consistent and vigilant about keeping them safe.

If I sound a little impassioned about this topic, you’re correct. In the last six months I’ve had my eyes opened to this horrendous crime (#2 in the U.S.) against our youth. I’ve interviewed victims of sex trafficking, nonprofits that aid trafficking victims, attended seminars on the topic, and spent countless hours researching this crime. As a result, I have made a commitment to myself to spread the word through my writing.

What I’ve learned is, as parents it’s better to be informed and educated so we can advocate for the safety of our children and the safety of others. Don’t be naïve and think it can’t happen in Collin or Dallas county. It already has.

Take these steps to help protect your child from being a potential victim.

• Monitor your child’s online account and friends. Don’t allow unlimited access to TV, internet and smart devices (phones, laptops, tablets, gaming systems), follow them on social media and take steps to password protect their settings and restrict their ability to download apps without consent. If they are under 18, use parental controls and filtering programs such as TeenSafe, X3Watch, or CovenantEyes. Keep your child’s phone or computer out of their bedroom and locked away at night.

 “Know what your kids are doing, who they are seeing and where they are going on the internet,” says Vicki Latham, Director of Communication and Development of 4theone.org, a Carrollton nonprofit that helps locate missing teens. “Get their passwords and login information on all devices. Activate the GPS location trackers on their phones.”

• Talk to your kids about trafficking. Because children are so trusting, they are easy prey for traffickers. Studies show the average age a child is recruited is 12 or 13 years old for a girl, 14-15 for a boy. “Have a discussion about the dangers of social media and manipulative people, who sometimes look totally cute and cool on the outside, but they do not have their best interest at heart,” says Latham.

• Educate your child about sex abuse prevention. “1 in 4 girls is sexually abused before age 18 and 90 percent of the time it is someone they know well and trust such as a cousin, uncle, boyfriend, brother or father,” reports Rebecca Jowers, founder of Rockwall-based Poiema, a nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness of human trafficking. Look for ways to meet your child’s friends, their friends’ parents and those they hang out with. Don’t let your child go to a sleepover at someone’s house who you don’t know really well.

• Make them feel safe and secure at home. If teens are from a loving, caring home the risks are far lower.” It’s the vulnerability factors that put the person at risk,” reports Jowers. Factors such as age, history of abuse, divorce, death, parents doing drugs, kids in foster care, etc. can all make a child more vulnerable.

• Prevention education is key. Human trafficking training for educators in Texas is not mandated nor is it a required topic for students. Much like bullying and drug awareness, this is a topic that MUST be covered. Ask your child’s school, youth organization or church to offer awareness and prevention programming to students, parents and school staff. Nonprofits Traffick911 and Poiema not only aid victims of trafficking, they work to raise awareness through prevention education. Traffick911 hosts a class called Traps, an interactive youth program designed to equip youth (ages 12-18) to avoid the tricks, traps and lures of human traffickers. Poiema offers a class called Human Trafficking (HT) 101 that educates people how to report suspicious activity, how perpetrators recruit children, how to identify human trafficking victims, how to talk to children about sex and human trafficking and sex abuse prevention and education.

The time is now to be proactive about protecting our children about this form of modern day slavery. Don’t wait until it’s too late.

January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Awareness Month.

For more stories like this see the January 16 issue or subscribe online.

By Sonia Duggan[email protected]

CC Future Mobility Nov 2023 V2

0 Comments

Order photos

Related News

Abbott: Battle continues over vouchers

Abbott: Battle continues over vouchers

As time runs out next week on the fourth special session, Gov. Greg Abbott said he will continue to fight for school choice, despite the Texas House once again decisively rejecting it when 21 Republicans largely from rural districts joined Democrats in stripping it...

read more
Counter measures

Counter measures

If you look at what’s missing from this great land, it’s, a barstool on which to sit, good home cookin’, and a counter on which to eat it. The diners of yesterday need a revival. By John Moore For more on this story see the November 22, 2023 print, or...

read more
Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home

The ownership we feel for places we have lived seems absolute. Any house we’ve called home was ours. No one else’s. Even if several others lived in it before or after we did. Such was the case of the house on Beech Street where my family lived in the 60s and early 70s...

read more
Harvesting Texas Traditions

Harvesting Texas Traditions

As the cool breeze of autumn begins to sweep through the Lone Star State, there’s a particular charm that sets Texas apart during this time of year. Beyond the sprawling landscapes and bustling cities, Texas boasts a remarkable connection between fall festivities and...

read more
Pay phones, rotary phones: pieces of the past

Pay phones, rotary phones: pieces of the past

The Jetsons got a lot right. Flying cars are now a reality. Zoom meetings. Robot vacuum cleaners. And video phones. One thing that was absent from that cartoon show was something that’s been around for well over 100 years. Something we still use today, and I think...

read more
Take the fall

Take the fall

One of my most vivid memories of fall happened during junior high. I was standing in the end zone prior to the start of a game. I could barely feel my fingers and toes. It was October, but it was unusually cold (Al Gore had yet to invent global warming). My shoulder...

read more
Food for thought

Food for thought

They were called, “Victory Gardens.” And they were one of the weapons US citizens used to help win World War II. With the bad guys throwing everything at us that they could, in return, we were throwing everything at them that we could. By John Moore To Login to read...

read more
Change the way you think

Change the way you think

Most seasons, when my son was playing little league baseball, I would coach his team. One season I couldn’t coach and so he got thrown into the draft with all the other kids.  It was a disaster.  The coach he got was terrible. He argued with the parents, he...

read more
CC Future Mobility Nov 2023 V2