Fight Against Human Trafficking Continues in Douglas County

FIGHT AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING CONTINUES IN DOUGLAS COUNTY

Community Forum Brings Experts Together on Trafficking

ATLANTA (Douglasville) GA – On Saturday, August 20, 2016 at the Day Star Tabernacle International, 8200 Highway 166, Douglasville, GA30135, at 10:00 a.m. a community forum on human trafficking will convene. Youth Emporium, Inc., Founders of the human trafficking initiative, Voices for Safe Havens, in collaboration with Day Star Tabernacle International will present a Community Forum addressing techniques families can use to protect their children. “Traffickers are smart, cunning and persuasive, and our children are no match for their capabilities,” says Brenda Hillman, President and Executive Director of Youth Emporium, Inc. a Douglasville, GA youth-based nonprofit organization.

Youth Emporium established the Voices for Safe Havens initiative with the expressed purpose to educate and empower young people and their parents on what to look for in order to protect themselves”, says Hillman. This forum is the second one we've offered in the Douglas County area. This year we have assembled a team of individuals whose background and experience demonstrates the global nature of this crime, and how our children have become easy targets for this criminal enterprise, Hillman said.

On the panel is Douglas County Prosecutor Brian Fortner, who believes that community engagement is critical in the fight against human trafficking. His participation in our earlier forum, confirmed the commitment of the County to structure programs that have the best possible approaches to protecting the county’s children. "Human traffickers of all kinds are taking advantage of the most vulnerable members of our society. They seek to capitalize on circumstances of life that leave our citizens at risk," he says. Investigator Christine Clark of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office will serve as an additional panelist. In her assignment to the Crimes Against Persons/Child Protection Unit, she witnesses first-hand how traffickers operate. In addition, we have a representative on the panel who headed up the eastern seaboard’s border patrol for the Department of Homeland Security, as well as an internet security expert, child abduction avoidance professional and service providers with unique legal and common sense perspectives on how to protect our children.

I encourage parents, educators, religious leaders, counselors and service providers, to bring the young people from their communities and churches to attend this important forum. If we do not have the information to share with our children, the likelihood of them falling prey to the crime is more likely than not to happen. Make the time to attend on August 20, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. It is sure to be two of the most informative and thought-provoking hours you can spend with your children this year, says Hillman.