“There’s not a zip code in the state of Georgia or in the United States where we’ve not heard of trafficking taking place because it’s a transient issue,” Susan Norris, founder and executive director of Rescuing Hope Inc., said starting off the Community Service Conference Wednesday, October 6.
Rescuing Hope Inc. serves survivors of sex trafficking ages 18 and above in multiple ways and provides training for educators, medical personnel and law enforcement.
She explained that sex trafficking involves a commercial sex act in exchange for money, goods or services.
Anyone under the age of 18 is automatically considered a victim in these cases since they’re not of legal age to consent to sex, Norris said, but those over the age of 18 must prove force, fraud or coercion.
In between speakers, Steven Miracle with the Kiwanis Club of Blue Ridge, provided a statistic that one in five human trafficking victims are children.
In explaining how to look for victims, Norris told of a young boy who began displaying signs of belligerence, withdrawal and school truancy.
This was a result of his trafficker requiring him to meet with him at every call and threatened to kill the boy’s father in front of him if he didn’t comply.
Norris encouraged adults to educate their children on the topic and how to be cautious online.
On the website, www.rescuinghope.com, a list of indicators and other information is available.
Naeshia McDowell, Children’s Advocacy Centers of Georgia, Inc.’s Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) Response Team statewide coordinator, told of the Five Paradigms of CSEC:
•Family facilitated; when a family member exchanges sexual acts with a child for goods, services, status or money.
•Gang facilitated; youth engaged in gang-controlled prostitution.
•Trafficker facilitated; pimps and traffickers target vulnerable children and young adults with psychological manipulation, drugs and/or violence.
•Survival sex; sexual acts exchanged for an extreme need.
•Technology facilitated; youth’s exploitation through social media or the internet at large.
A National Human Trafficking Hotline is available by calling 888-373-7888 or texting 233733.
Anyone who suspects trafficking may call 1-866-363-4842.
“It’s more important to make the phone call and to have someone look into it and be incorrect then to let a victim continue to be raped and pillaged 10 to 30 times a night because you failed to make a phone call,” Norris said.
The conference is an annual event that focuses on a different topic of concern, and this year’s topic was Human Trafficking: Stolen in the Blink of an Eye.
Other speakers included the First Lady of Georgia Marty Kemp, Heather Stockdale of Street Grace, and Debby Crumbly with End Slavery Georgia Inc.
Sponsors of the event included the Kiwanis Club of Blue Ridge, Blue Ridge Community Theater, Fannin County Family Connection, Georgia Mountains Health, Mineral Springs Center, and the North Georgia Mountain Crisis Network.
The full, nearly three-hour conference is available for viewing on Fannin County Family Connection’s YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SDOsjoXx2I.