Educating Students about Sex Trafficking and Responding to Students’ Needs: Principals’ Perceptions and Practices

ABSTRACT

There is growing interest in educating youth about sex trafficking, coupled with a recognition that both traditional and alternative schools are promising venues for addressing sex trafficking and reaching students with such content. As principals play a key role in determining the programming and protocols in their schools, the current investigation surveyed principals in traditional and alternative public schools in one southeastern state regarding: (a) their perceptions on sex trafficking and the role of schools in teaching about and responding to sex trafficking; (b) their school’s current efforts to teach about and respond to sex trafficking; (c) the preparedness of their school personnel for handling sex trafficking concerns, identifications, or disclosures; (d) their perceived challenges to educating youth about sex trafficking in schools; and (e) their recommendations for educating youth about sex trafficking in schools. Responses from 76 principals illuminate schools’ limited efforts to teach about and respond to sex trafficking, as well as challenges related to school personnel preparedness for addressing sex trafficking. The study offers preliminary guidance for educating youth about sex trafficking in schools and stresses the importance of ensuring that school personnel are knowledgeable about sex trafficking and well prepared to handle sex trafficking concerns.

KEYWORDS:

• Sex trafficking
• youth
• education
• school
• principals
• domestic minor sex trafficking

Acknowledgments

This project was supported by Grants No. 2016-VA-GX-0075 and 2017-VA-GX-0050 awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, U.S. Department of Justice. We acknowledge the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault, our project’s Expert Advisory Group, Brittany Love, Marlowe Crews Kovach, and Raye Dooley for their help with this research.

Declaration of Interest Statement

Each of the authors declares they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Grant No. 2016-VA-GX-0075 and 2017-VA-GX-0050 awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, U.S. Department of Justice. The opnions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime.