Foley Class Tackles Child Trafficking Prevention

FOLEY (WJON News) - Next Monday, Benton County Public Health and Foley Community Education are teaming up to present a Caregiver Course to Prevent Child Trafficking.

The course is designed for parents, teachers, and caregivers to explain how child trafficking occurs and what makes someone vulnerable to it.

Mallory Voit is a public health nurse in Benton County and will lead the presentation. She says the class is the first step in helping keep children safe.

There are multiple ways that you can approach human trafficking, and ending human trafficking. In my opinion, the most important approach is prevention; teaching (parents) and their caregivers or people who are working with us on an everyday basis. What they can do to protect youth in their lives from ever being involved with that in the first place?

The class meets on Monday, March 4th, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, in the Foley Intermediate School Media Center.

Voit says the class will go over how human trafficking and sexual exploitation actually occur in the real world, as opposed to what we see in television and movies.

We see a lot of sensationalized stories in the media, with kidnapping and abductions, and scary people lurking in malls. And that's the least likely scenario. You are much more likely to be trafficked by somebody that you know, a family member, a caregiver, a romantic partner, or a friend at school. You are much more likely to encounter trafficking through some form of relationship that you already have. So when people understand that, and they start to develop an awareness of vulnerabilities that people might have that make them more vulnerable to human trafficking, we can start to combat human trafficking from that approach.

The class is free to attend, but pre-registration is appreciated. For more details, find the class registration information here.