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If you have older teens or young adults in your life, we encourage you to watch with them this short, vivid, compassionate, and powerful new video, Staying Safe from Trafficking – the latest episode in our Kidpower Video Shorts series.
If you have a younger teen, we suggest you watch the video first to make sure it is appropriate for your child.
Human trafficking is the exploitation of young people and adults for commercial sale of forced labor or sex. Although some groups are more vulnerable, this crime causes tremendous suffering to people from all walks of life, often being “hidden in plain sight” even in the most well-off of communities.
For young people who are becoming independent online or going out on their own in public, this short video provides essential tools for understanding what human trafficking is, how it happens, how to recognize danger signals and grooming behavior, and how to get away and get help.
This is the 12th episode in our popular Kidpower Shorts Safety videos produced by Avery Holmes. Many families, schools, and youth organizations are using these videos to teach about different kinds of ‘People Safety’ issues and skills.
Another important resource for schools that want to protect their students from human trafficking is our online course Full Circle Safety: What K-12 Educators Need to Know About Trafficking. In this one-hour program, Dr. Amy Tiemann – producer and co-author with me of our book Doing Right by Our Kids – and I provide tools to help educators understand the problem; increase protective factors for their students; take effective action when trafficking is suspected; and use Teenpower skills to prepare young people to take charge of their own safety.
We hope these resources will be helpful to you. Please let us know if you have any questions or suggestions by contacting safety@kidpower.org.
Published: July 14, 2022 | Last Updated: July 14, 2022
Irene van der Zande, Kidpower Founder and Executive Director
Kidpower Founder and Executive Irene van der Zande is a master at teaching safety through stories and practices and at inspiring others to do the same. Her child protection and personal safety expertise has been featured by USA Today, CNN, Today Moms, the LA Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Publications include: cartoon-illustrated Kidpower Safety Comics and Kidpower Teaching Books curriculum; Bullying: What Adults Need to Know and Do to Keep Kids Safe; the Relationship Safety Skills Handbook for Teens and Adults; Earliest Teachable Moment: Personal Safety for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers; The Kidpower Book for Caring Adults: Personal Safety, Self-Protection, Confidence, and Advocacy for Young People, and the Amazon Best Seller Doing Right by Our Kids: Protecting Child Safety at All Levels.