Q&A: How Oakland schools educate youth about the dangers of human trafficking

In 2020, eight college districts throughout the U.S. acquired a complete of $4.3 million in federal grants to create and implement human trafficking prevention packages. Oakland Unified was one of them.

OUSD receives half one million {dollars} a yr from the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies to offer human trafficking prevention training to college students and workers in center and excessive faculties. Groups of community school managers, therapists, and different workers skilled to reply and intervene in circumstances of business sexual exploitation and labor trafficking are at every center and highschool campus.

Amba Johnson, a former welfare employee for foster youth and a longtime advocate for sexually exploited youth, is OUSD’s grant supervisor for its human trafficking prevention & response program.

The Oaklandside not too long ago sat down with Johnson to find out about what human trafficking appears like and the way mother and father and guardians can discuss with their college students about exploitation.

This interview has been edited for size and readability, with some editor’s notes to offer further context.

I need to be conscious of language. Are you able to outline “human trafficking” for me? And what’s the popular terminology for survivors, victims, and so on.?

Human trafficking is a blanket time period that covers all types of exploitation, together with labor trafficking and business intercourse trafficking. Each brings a completely completely different set of challenges, so it’s necessary to be particular.

All survivors have completely different preferences for a way they’d prefer to be referred to. Some folks need to be recognized as victims or survivors. Others are OK with each. Some don’t need to be recognized as both.

The federal government’s definition of human trafficking consists of the usage of pressure, fraud, or coercion. That’s significantly related should you’re speaking to somebody over 18. The factor about youth below 18 is that pressure, fraud, and coercion don’t should be current if the act is, by definition, a criminal offense. We’ve determined as a society that the capability for knowledgeable consent isn’t potential till age 18, as a result of [children] don’t have sufficient of a worldview to grasp that consent. So in actual phrases, meaning it’s mechanically a criminal offense if somebody is in a relationship with another person, and the opposite individual is benefiting from them being bought to a 3rd get together.

How did you get began in trafficking prevention and training?

I used to be within the intercourse business in my 20s. I used to be not being exploited; I used to be an grownup. And it ought to be famous that I’m white, so there was numerous privilege in that. I’m not claiming parallel expertise, however I’ve expertise nonetheless.

I left the intercourse business and went to varsity fairly late — I used to be 26 or 27 — as a result of I had a daughter, and as a single mom, I wanted to get a job. I obtained my bachelor’s in sociology and my grasp’s in social work.

After school, I labored for the Alameda County Social Services Agency as a welfare employee for kids in group houses. I wasn’t there for very lengthy earlier than I grew to become conscious that numerous the women had been being exploited.

I used to be shocked on the terminology again in these days. In a few of the case information, a 12-year-old can be known as “having numerous boyfriends” or “promiscuous.” They categorised teenagers as “prostitutes.” The kids themselves thought that no matter they had been doing was solely their fault. They didn’t perceive how managed and frightened they had been. They discounted their very own fears, the manipulation, the management they had been below.

Editor’s word: In 2016, California lawmakers handed Senate Bill 1322, which decriminalized prostitution and associated expenses for minors and directed police to deal with youngsters as victims. Earlier than SB 1322, police might arrest and cost minors for prostitution and loitering with intent to commit prostitution.

I met Nola Brantley in 2001. She was working as a case supervisor on the George P. Scotlan Youth and Household Middle in West Oakland and had already began working with two or three different girls on business sexual exploitation prevention and training. Nola led the way in which for a few years, nationally and regionally. I used to be the president of MISSSEY’s board of administrators for a number of years.

I left Alameda County Social Companies and began consulting with group houses on learn how to work with youth who had been human trafficking survivors. Finally, I used to be recruited by Alameda Family Services to be the director of DreamCatcher Youth Services. On the time, they had been planning on transferring to a brand new constructing and opening a specialised shelter for trafficked youth. I got here on board in 2013 and did that till we merged with Covenant House in 2024.

These years had been significantly salient as a result of we had already labored for therefore lengthy on growing consciousness, and extra youth had been coming in as a result of they’d heard about DreamCatcher by means of phrase of mouth.

Oakland Unified College District homes a human trafficking prevention program. Is that this typical at different college districts?

OUSD is one among eight college districts nationwide to obtain the Human Trafficking Youth Prevention Schooling (HTYPE) grant. We’re utilizing the identical human trafficking training program that the Los Angeles and San Diego Unified College Districts use.

Editor’s word: The Workplace on Trafficking in Individuals, housed throughout the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies’ Administration for Kids and Households, awarded the HTYPE grants. The Administration for Kids and Households took down its HTYPE website earlier this yr.

Is there a specific purpose OUSD was chosen to obtain this grant out of the 1000’s of college districts throughout the nation?

To begin with, we wrote a really aggressive grant utility. Second, Oakland is ranked No. 3 in human trafficking sizzling spots in California. I consider San Diego is No. 1, and San Jose is No. 2.

Editor’s word: County records confer with Alameda County because the third-highest rating sizzling spot for human trafficking within the U.S. The data do not cite a supply for that statistic; nonetheless, it’s typically acknowledged that many individuals within the East Bay are victims of labor and intercourse trafficking.

How prevalent is human trafficking regionally?

I need to say one thing about statistics since you’re going to seek out numerous them. Research and logic recommend that any statistic you see on human trafficking represents between 3% and 10% of the particular quantity.

Let’s begin with business intercourse trafficking. We get knowledge by means of three factors of contact: police (in the event that they reported it to the police or went to a police station), nonprofits (in the event that they sought companies from a shelter or another group), and hotlines (in the event that they referred to as a disaster line). Practically all survivors of business intercourse trafficking, lively and former, usually are not going to do any of these three issues as a result of they’re being managed by individuals who aren’t inclined to allow them to have these contacts. In different phrases, individuals who report being exploited are the exception, not the rule.

Labor trafficking could be very comparable, however with a complete completely different stage of dynamics. Labor trafficking typically entails the quick menace to household on this nation or one other nation, or the specter of taking away the individual’s inexperienced card or different pathways to citizenship. Additionally, many first- and second-generation immigrants are inclined to worry the police as a result of, relying on the nation you got here from, police can imply various things. Which means there’s an excellent decrease chance of a contact level with these victims.

Many survivors of sexual assault I’ve spoken to stated they didn’t report it.

Yeah. They’ll say, “I’m not placing myself by means of that. I’ve been by means of sufficient.”

How a lot funding does OUSD get? What precisely does the funding cowl?

OUSD receives $500,000 a yr. The primary grant interval was for 2018 by means of 2023. We’re coming into the third yr of our second, five-year grant interval, which ends in 2028.

The federal grant covers all forms of human trafficking training and entails everybody within the college district. We’re engaged on getting protecting and preventative curriculum in all the colleges, from fifth grade up. We’re coaching all academics in figuring out trafficking.

This yr, for the primary time, we’ll be coaching all of the assist groups, social employees, group college managers, the coordinated assist groups on every campus, and everybody else who’s going to work extra deeply with the youth. They’ll be skilled extra in service supply and learn how to work with somebody concerned in human trafficking.

Nearly all of the grant is getting the curriculum into the school rooms, paying the trainers’ salaries, the curriculum growth — all of that could be very expensive. On prime of that, the grant covers technical assist and increasing bandwidth.

When there’s a human trafficking case in any college, I’m the one they seek the advice of about it. We discuss methods, linking the coed to outdoors assist, and when and learn how to take that assist.

What different subjects do you cowl?

For this five-year cycle, we’re very targeted on further curriculum growth for folks and guardians. We’re additionally engaged on deepening the understanding of labor trafficking of boys, with a specific concentrate on compelled criminality.

What’s compelled criminality?

Forced criminality is when somebody is compelled to interrupt the legislation. One instance is a gang forcing a boy to be a part of the gang. They could coerce the boy to promote unlawful items or pressure them to enter shops and run bank cards. These actions are sometimes pushed by an grownup who’s in management.

That is extra more likely to occur to newly arrived immigrants. They’re not considering, “I’m going to go to America to affix a gang.” That couldn’t be farther from the reality. Oftentimes, they’re working to America to keep away from a gang. However then they get right here, and America additionally has gangs ready for them. And being first- or second-generation comes with numerous obstacles. You may not totally perceive your rights or what’s occurring.

Once we discuss compelled criminality, it seems like we’re again in 2002 or 2003, when intercourse trafficking survivors had been nonetheless handled as criminals, not victims. Again then, we had not named that these minors had been being compelled to do one thing that they weren’t autonomously deciding to do as an knowledgeable grownup.

Likewise, in compelled criminality, these boys aren’t making a selection. They don’t have any selection. They’re being compelled to promote medication, steal, or no matter it’s they’re doing.

I’ve executed some reporting on why the threat of being exploited is larger for some demographic teams. What patterns do you see, if any, amongst survivors of labor trafficking and business sexual exploitation?

For business intercourse trafficking, the largest sample we see now could be that the recruiting is going on by means of social media, which I believe everyone is acutely and painfully conscious of.

Going to varsity, for me, was a giant deal as a result of I’ve consideration deficit dysfunction. I didn’t suppose that I used to be sensible. By the way, that’s one thing very typical of the youth I see on the streets. I see numerous sexually exploited youth with delicate studying disabilities or neurodivergences, which end in them considering they’re not sensible or not going to make it the “common” manner.

Within the case of labor trafficking, it’s a little bit extra difficult. If a household of 5 has their youngsters serving to them promote produce on the weekend, that’s not labor trafficking; that could be a household surviving. Satirically, it is also that all the household is being labor trafficked by another person.

When it comes to different developments, I’d say trafficking is growing in each manner. I’m 20 years into engaged on this problem, however the reality is that each one unlawful industries are pushed by cash. If the cash’s unhealthy, the cash’s unhealthy, and also you do what it’s good to do to get by.

Inform me extra about that.

There’s the literal lack of sources, and there’s the upcoming worry of lack of sources. Each of these make folks extra susceptible to trafficking and exploitation.

One thing about males on the road who’re exploiting youth is that oftentimes, they had been additionally groomed. That’s a nuance that hasn’t been addressed as a lot — that these exploiters persistently have virtually the very same background as the women who’re on the streets. They typically skilled the identical ranges of sexual abuse, housing insecurity, meals insecurity, and household instability. It’s not like they stroll out the door at 18 after a fantastic highschool training and say, “That is what I’m going to do.”

Some males try to normalize their very own expertise by normalizing it with everybody round them, which suggests they’re praising boys for exploitative conduct. Mix that with hopelessness and the worry of an absence of sources, and you’ve got an ideal storm.

Relying on the place you’re within the U.S., between 70% and 90% of survivors of business sexual exploitation are Black or brown girls. Equally, between 70% and 90% of the boys exploiting them are Black or brown.

However right here’s the factor: Virtually wherever you go within the nation, near 95% of patrons are white. So, who’s the exploiter: the determined individual, the one who has the ability to purchase the determined individual, or the one who has the ability to make somebody determined sufficient to promote an individual?

Editor’s word: Some studies have found that the biggest demographic group shopping for intercourse from intercourse employees and exploited adults and youth are white males.

What sources does OUSD provide to trafficking survivors? And what number of college students search out these companies annually?

There’s a coordinated companies crew on each OUSD campus. That crew may encompass the group college supervisor, a behavioral well being specialist, a therapist, the vice principal, and different non-teaching positions who work extra deeply with households and college students. They’ll problem referrals and hyperlink college students to exterior assist.

I believe the info on what number of college students are referred to those companies remains to be unclear. Some referrals are certainly for human trafficking, and others aren’t. Earlier than individuals are skilled to determine trafficking, they don’t see it, and after they’re skilled, they see it all over the place.

So is it honest to say there’s no good knowledge on what number of OUSD college students are being trafficked or vulnerable to being trafficked?

There isn’t any robust, constant knowledge but. I hesitate to offer numbers as a result of 9 instances out of 10, there is no such thing as a overt indicator of trafficking. If a youth has been struggling for a really very long time, there could not even be a dramatic change in conduct.

What are some potential indicators of trafficking that college students, academics, and households ought to concentrate on?

Two telephones is probably the most well-known signal, as a result of the exploiter will typically get a second cellphone to regulate the lady. However these days, they could use their very own cellphone, so it relies on how lengthy the exploiter has been doing this and the way subtle he’s in the way in which he manages the women, which isn’t all the time the case.

Sudden adjustments of conduct all the time should be famous and responded to, as a result of one thing may be occurring. However that doesn’t essentially imply it’s human trafficking.

I’ve by no means had any baby in 20 years — not one teen — come as much as me and say, “I’m being exploited.” And even after she learns that language, that’s by no means the language she would use. You need to virtually be an grownup earlier than you’re keen to say you had been exploited. It’s too summary. So as a substitute, they’ll have “boyfriends.”

Then, the problem turns into extra difficult. If they’re being sexually exploited, they’re both not going to reveal it due to worry or as a result of their household has been threatened, or they received’t disclose it as a result of they don’t suppose they’re being exploited. 

They could suppose they’ve obtained their one individual, and in the event that they don’t have him, they received’t have something. 

Or they’ll suppose, “He actually loves me, and we’re going to get out of this collectively. I’m simply serving to us get out of this.” 

All these feelings are very intense once you’re younger since you’re not on the identical stage of cognitive consciousness as an grownup.

The commonest time for a teen to be exploited is between 12 and 14 years previous. That’s when many ladies need to be seen in a complete new manner, and when they’re the least assured about it. So when a grown man tells them, “You’re actually mature in your age. You could possibly be a mannequin. We are able to make an unimaginable life collectively. Why don’t you let me show you how to?” or, “I get the sensation you’re not having a great time at dwelling. I might be sure that no person ever hurts you once more,” that may make them really feel protected, protected, and beloved.

Editor’s word: OUSD supplies a list of indicators of human trafficking.

It sounds such as you’re describing the “boyfriend pimp.” I’m additionally conscious of “gorilla pimps,” who use bodily violence, medication, or each to coerce somebody into sexual exploitation. Are they not as frequent among the many circumstances you’ve seen at OUSD?

Nope, not as frequent.

I’m additionally noticing you’ve largely referred to survivors as women and exploiters as males.

Sure. That’s not all the time true, nevertheless it tends to be.

Editor’s word: Research has overwhelmingly proven that the majority exploiters are males.

Let’s say a pupil walks into your workplace and experiences that they know somebody who’s being sexually exploited. Stroll me by means of a typical response in that situation.

I’ll offer you one instance. A instructor calls and says, “This lady comes to highschool, she’s gone for 2 hours at lunchtime, after which she comes again,” or, “The opposite day, I seen that the man who picked her up from college wasn’t her dad, however I didn’t have an opportunity to say something as a result of she was on the different finish of the parking zone.”

I’d ask them, are you able to examine in together with her extra typically?

Attempt to kind a stronger connection. 

Make extra time to speak and say, “It looks as if you’re gone for a few hours day-after-day. Is there something you want?” 

Some youth will disclose fairly shortly that they should go to a clinic, or they’ve a boyfriend. However most youth will say, “No, I’m OK.”

Youth will disclose in the event that they’re being approached within the early grooming phases, and so they know that one thing is off. That’s why our prevention curriculum is so targeted on getting them to determine when one thing’s simply not proper and the way to answer that. We educate them to acknowledge it, reply to it, and discover a protected grownup.

Industrial sexual exploitation, not to mention intercourse, is an uncomfortable matter for many individuals. How early ought to academics, mother and father, and guardians discuss this with their college students?

It’s actually a debate that has many dimensions to it.

The curriculum begins in kindergarten with apparent issues, like protected contact. You don’t have to hug somebody should you don’t need to. You possibly can say “No.”

We additionally do some expertise constructing on recognizing protected adults. How do you determine who to belief? How will you inform who’s or isn’t a protected grownup?

After they get to fifth or sixth grade, that’s once you may present them an age-appropriate video that talks about what grooming appears like. Begin a dialog together with your youth whilst you watch it. Use a really impartial, open tone. Ask, “Has that ever occurred to you?” You possibly can say, “If any of these items come up, you’ll be able to inform me about it, and we are able to determine if it truly is grooming or not.”

I really like what you simply stated about retaining your tone open and impartial. Disgrace or blame can shut down any dialog.

Yep. Some generations didn’t discuss intercourse, ever. Again then, you had the intercourse discuss earlier than you bought married. I believe we’re in a very delicate transition as a result of we simply went by means of a cultural interval of great freedom and intercourse positivity. After which AIDS occurred, and by some means, everyone internalized that to imply that having intercourse freely might presumably be unsuitable and harmful.

The issue with all of that’s that there are folks on the market who’re groomers. There are folks on-line who’re asking very younger women to ship bare photos to them. If we are able to’t have conversations with out disgrace, we’ve got eradicated their solely security. And if and after they do one thing, and there’s disgrace, implied or overtly said, then they received’t have anyone to go to anymore. Disgrace is the factor that’s going to carry them again.

Do you’ve another ideas?

Introducing conversations about human trafficking doesn’t even should occur earlier than 14 or 15 years previous. What has to occur is displaying what grooming behaviors are and what the dangers are. And educate them to all the time take note of their intestine. Reassure them, inform them, “You possibly can come to me with the whole lot.”

These are prevention elements.