Speakers At Forum Say It Is Easy To Miss Sexual Trafficking

It could be your daughter or your son, and you might not even know it.

That theme permeated the entire evening of the Human Trafficking Awareness Forum organized by the North Oconee Rotary Club and held last week at the Oconee County Civic Center.

The video shown at the start of the three-hour session emphasized how difficult it is for parents to know if their children are being trafficked, and the final speaker, an expert on trafficking, told how her own daughter became involved in the sex trade even under her trained eyes.

Lt. Deanna Smith from the Oconee County’s Sheriff’s Office told the group “I deal with people every single day who have gone to great lengths to have sex with our children. This stuff happens. We’re not making it up.”

About 150 people participated in the three-hour session that included presentations by state legislators and by a trafficking survivor as well as focused discussions by participants at the end on what they had learned at the Forum and what they planned to do as a result.

For more on the story, with a video of the Forum, please go to Oconee County Observations.

Pictured: Lt. Deanna Smith of Oconee County Sheriff's Office.