While representatives of the Family Crisis Center (FCC) have presented their human-trafficking curriculum at some high schools in their 11-county service area, the goal is to take the program to all of them.

Since January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month, Kylee Graves, FCC executive director, is taking the opportunity to encourage school administrators and teachers to participate.

“We have 21 high schools in our service territory and want to visit each of them,” Graves said. “Human trafficking is a big problem everywhere, including communities in central Kansas. And it will continue to grow, especially because of an increasing number of social-media platforms.

“Teenagers want and need to learn about this topic,” she continued. “When we visit schools, students are curious and engaged in our discussions. We want to share this information with as many teenagers as we can.”

The curriculum is called “Safer, Smarter Teens: Be the Change.” It delivers critical safety information appropriate for high school students in six lessons. Each lesson includes a 10-minute video, classroom activities and parent-education materials.

“We have discovered that some teenagers suspect that something is happening to them or a friend but they don’t really know what to call it,” Graves commented. “It might entail online dating, which could involve a stranger grooming them for human trafficking.

“Young people often don’t understand the gravity of what can happen, such as being groomed and then sold for labor and/or sex.”

Parents and other adults should be aware of warning signs that a teenager is being groomed.

These signs include withdrawing from other people by decreasing the number of favorite activities and interacting with only one person instead of a group of friends.

“Any obvious change in a teenager’s routine can be a sign of human trafficking or other problems,” Graves said.

FCC staff members see the results of human-trafficking first-hand when they offer support to survivors.

“At first, they don’t want to talk because they are afraid for their physical safety,” Graves reported. “We do everything possible to re-assure them and many eventually can open up about their experiences.”

Graves is aware that many central Kansans “don’t believe this is a big problem here. They think it is just one of those things that happens in big cities. We hope they will come to realize that it happens here and will continue to happen if we don’t find ways to prevent it.”

FCC serves Barton, Barber, Comanche, Edwards, Ellsworth, Kiowa, Ness, Pawnee, Pratt, Rush and Stafford counties.

For more information, call 620-793-9941; the 24-hour crisis hotline is 866-792-1885.