It's National Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention month. Local advocates are letting people know there are still many problems in our country and even our state, human trafficking being one of them.
The Nampa Family Justice Center hopes the training they provide will help the community better identify and serve human trafficking victims. Today the center offered an 'Understanding Human Trafficking' training that explained how traffickers coerce vulnerable people, factors that could put you or your loved ones at higher risk, and the warning signs to look out for.
"Human trafficking can be broken down into both sex labor trafficking and labor trafficking,” said Taylor Cook, Human Trafficking Project Coordinator with the Nampa Family Justice Center.
“Another issue when it comes to reporting human trafficking is we are misidentifying it,” said Cook.
According to the National Human Trafficking hotline, the Idaho Division received 109 contacts for assistance in 2021; 54 were direct contacts made by human trafficking victims and survivors. But exact numbers are difficult to come by as these crimes are often misidentified and under-reported.
“But what I can tell you, just from working with victims and survivors on a daily weekly bases, it is definitely happening here in our state,” said Taylor Cook.
The Nampa Family Justice Center's mission is to promote safety, self-sufficiency, hope, and healing to those affected by abuse. The Nampa Family Justice Center offers free services to the community and is located at 1305 3rd St. S. in Nampa or by calling (208) 475-5700.
