Section 2.1: School Related Operations

Approved: April 4, 2023

Revised:

SAFE SCHOOLS – ANTI-SEX TRAFFICKING PROTOCOLS 

Procedures 

1.0             Statement of principles

A role for parents/guardians/caregivers 

Parents, guardians, and caregivers are key partners in the development, implementation, and review of school board anti-sex trafficking protocols. Care must be given when reaching out to parents, families, and caregivers to ensure they are safe adults prior to engaging with them on matters regarding the student/s. Outreach to Indigenous parents and guardians, as well as outreach to Black and racialized parents and guardians, should be trauma-informed and recognize historic and systemic barriers that may impact their participation. Every effort should also be made to ensure that engagement with parents, guardians, and caregivers is culturally and linguistically responsive. 

Foster student voices 

Students are at the centre of this work and should be involved in efforts to develop actions against sex trafficking. Student groups will be invited to participate and inform the design, development, delivery, and implementation of anti-sex trafficking protocols. The board recognizes that students with lived experience are experts and, if willing and appropriately supported through trauma-informed approaches, could share their story and insights as part of efforts to build awareness and empower students. 

Build multi-sectoral relationships with community organizations 

Ongoing consultation and engagement with community groups/agencies that support members of the school community are essential to supporting anti-sex trafficking approaches that are responsive to diverse students and the needs of local school communities. 

District School Board Ontario North East (DSB1) will utilize the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) to provide training for staff, parents, and community members, as well as developmentally appropriate learning materials for students that align with the expectations of the Ontario Curriculum.  The Canadian Centre for Child Protection is a national charity dedicated to the personal safety of all children.  Their goal is to reduce the sexual abuse and exploitation of children, programs, services, and resources for Canadian families, educators, child-serving organizations, law enforcement, and other parties. 

Additionally, DSB1 has partnered with the Timmins Police Department to provide training for staff and students regarding sex trafficking and how to recognize and help prevent it from happening.  We will collaborate to develop classroom resources for our classroom staff to utilize. 

Interventions must be safe  

Caring adults and students within schools can promote a sense of student belonging, increase protective factors, help to reduce risk factors associated with sex trafficking, and support early intervention through identification and appropriate response, including connecting impacted persons to supportive services. 

School board employees will require comprehensive anti-sex trafficking training, so they are equipped to identify the signs of sex trafficking, safely respond to disclosures, be culturally relevant and responsive to diverse student populations, and support the immediate physical and emotional safety needs of students. Training will emphasize how to respond to immediate dangers and the need to avoid actions that will make an individual's situation worse or more unsafe. 

Build up school-based prevention 

The development of the protocol will complement existing prevention efforts in schools, including the teaching of consent, healthy relationships, and healthy sexuality. It is important for school staff to understand the historical and social context of sex trafficking and implement prevention strategies that are responsive to the needs of students and members of the local school community. 

Respect confidentiality, privacy, and informed consent 

The development of procedures must respect confidentiality and ensure that the student fully understands how their information may be used or with whom it may be shared. It is key to develop referral relationships with community service organizations while adhering to applicable legal requirements, including those under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act; the Ontario Human Rights Code; the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005; the Education Act; and the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017.  

Promote equitable and culturally safe responses 

Protocols should demonstrate a human rights-based, non-judgmental, culturally responsive, survivor-centered, and trauma-informed approach to raising awareness, preventing, identifying, and responding to sex trafficking. 

2.0             Strategies to raise awareness and prevent sex trafficking 

DSB1 is committed to creating safe learning spaces for your child through the utilization of culturally responsive and safe strategies to raise awareness about sex trafficking.  This commitment also applies to DSB1 employees, parents, guardians, caregivers, and the broader school community.  Protocols apply to in-person and online learning and include all school and DSB1 activities, including field trips, overnight excursions, and DSB1 sponsored extracurricular activities.  This extends to all connections with the extended school community. 

Strategies will include: 

• This protocol and related procedures (Duty to Report and Police & School Board Protocol) and resources will be publicly available and accessible on the DSB1 website (using the Families & Students link).  A dedicated page will be developed where students and families can find relevant data and additional links to support.  This area will include information about:
• Cyber-safety.
• The signs that a student is being targeted, lured, groomed, trafficked, or is trafficking another student; how to get help safely (for example, through the DSB1, community providers and/or support hotline).
• How they can report concerns to school administrators and appropriate DSB1 staff.
• Utilize available technology and tools to raise awareness, identify and deter potential situations involving students who could be at risk of sex trafficking and other online threats, while using DSB1 provided technology.
• Raise awareness amongst staff and students on the signs a student is being targeted, lured, groomed, trafficked, or is trafficking another student, and how to bring concerns about luring, grooming, recruitment or exiting sex trafficking to the school without fear of reprisal. Resources from awareness sessions will be made available to all staff through the Educators’ Playground resource area on the Employee link on the DSB1 website. 
• Raise awareness to prevent the recruitment of students for sex trafficking, including through curriculum about healthy relationships, consent, mental health, and well-being, coping skills, personal safety, and online safety, as well as through work with local community-based organizations and survivors.   

To support this strategy, the following measures will be implemented: 

• Curriculum-based learning about healthy relationships, consent, mental health and wellbeing, coping skills, personal safety and online safety, particularly in elementary Health and Physical Education classes and secondary Health and Physical Education and Social Science courses;
• Class, school and grade presentations and guest speakers in partnership with community-based organizations;
• Engagement with student voice including student groups such as DSB1 Student Senate;
• Inclusion of information, including the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline, on school websites and social media accounts; and
• Share teaching resources and lesson plans with teachers such as: 

• Prevent – home
• Speak Out: Stop Sex Trafficking 
• The Trap: Human Trafficking Digital Education Tool   

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection and PREVNet can be utilized for resources to engage our school communities with specific learning around sex trafficking. 

The Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline is available to support awareness and referrals. 

3.0             Response procedures 

Every school board employee has a duty to respond in situations where a student: 

• may be at risk of or is being sex trafficked
• may be targeting, luring, grooming, or recruiting children and youth for the purpose of 
• sex trafficking
• is returning to school after they have been trafficked or involved in trafficking others 

The responses enacted by the school, internal board supports, and outside agencies must 

take into account the needs of our diverse learners and their families, which may include: 

• students with special education needs, mental health needs, social or emotional 
• needs or language/cultural barriers, and international students
• students who are in care, receiving care or in customary care arrangements 
• students who are being trafficked and who may be involved in the recruiting of other 
• victims, including students who are returning to school after they have been involved 
• in a trafficking situation 
• parents, including those who may live overseas and/or may not speak English 
• or French 
• students 18 years of age or older or who are 16 or 17 years of age and have withdrawn from parental control 

When an educator or administrator receives a disclosure or suspects sex trafficking: 

• Remember that making a disclosure is a highly vulnerable experience. 
• Listen to the student without judgement. 
• Consider your bias: it may be hard to understand or empathize with some of the choices students make, or the barriers they experience. 
• Be aware of and soften your body language (e.g. take a deep breath, give a reassuring smile, lower your shoulders and speak slowly and with confidence) 
• Mirror their language (e.g. if they say “boyfriend,” use this term). 
• Let them take the lead in sharing, avoid leading the conversation (do not probe for their story, instead connect the student with support). 
• Avoid making promises you aren’t able to keep (e.g. no confidentiality). 

If an educator receives a disclosure or suspects sex trafficking: 

• Keep the Student Safe
  • Always make the student aware that you are obliged to disclose any information regarding illegal activity with your administrator and possibly the Police and a Child Protection Agency or an Indigenous Child and Family Well-Being Agency. 
  • Be aware that a threat to their safety may be imminent and an immediate response and intervention is required. 
  • Do not leave the student alone. 
• Explain Your Role 
  • Explain that your role in supporting the student is to connect them with professionals who can respond to the concern they have shared with you. These roles include: 
  • Reporting to the school administration; 
  • The duty to report child protection concerns; 
  • If the student identifies you as a key support, and the administrator determines this is appropriate, offer to be present in subsequent conversations between the student, administration, School Attendance Counsellor and community partners engaged in the response; and 
  • In conjunction with administration, engaging appropriate ADSB partners, including the School Attendance Counsellor and/or RISE Counsellor, to create a safety plan with the student and refer them to resources. 
• Child Protection Agency – Duty to Report 
  • For students under 16 years of age, staff MUST report to the administrator and a child protection agency; 
  • For students 16 and 17 years of age, staff MUST report to the administrator and may report to a child protection agency. Please refer to Policy 6.02 – Child Abuse (Maltreatment) Reporting Policy for guidance. 
  • The following Child Protection Agencies and Indigenous Child and Family Well-Being Agencies support families within DSB1:    
    • NEOFACS  
    • Kunuwanimano Child & Family Services 
• Contact School Admin 
  • Immediately contact your school administrator regardless of the age of the student 

If an administrator receives a disclosure or suspects sex trafficking: 

• Keep the Student Safe 
  • Always make the student aware that you may be obliged to disclose any information regarding illegal activity with the Police and a Child Protection Agency or an Indigenous Child and Family Well-Being Agency. 
  • Ensure the student remains supervised by school staff. 
  • Ensure the student is not being re-victimized by having them repeat their story.  
• Child Protection Agency –Duty to Report 
  • If you received the disclosure or suspect sex trafficking, call a Child Protection Agency. 
  • If a staff member received the disclosure or suspects sex trafficking, verify staff has called Child Protection Agency. 
  • For students under 16 years of age: Verify that staff who received the disclosure have called a Child Protection Agency and provided you documentation, or call the Child Protection Agency if disclosure is made to you. 
  • For students 16 and 17 years of age: Verify whether the staff who received the disclosure have contacted a Child Protection Agency and provided you documentation. Record the decision to call a Child Protection Agency and contact your Superintendent for further consultation if the decision is made not to call. 
• Contact 
  • Contact the board Mental Health Lead to coordinate the involvement of the School Attendance Counsellor and other potential resource personnel (ex. Indigenous Lead, external victim services); 
  • Consult with school superintendent.  
• Contact Parent/Guardian 
  • Do not call parent/guardian if: 
  • Directed not to contact parent/guardian by Child Protection Agency or local police; 
  • Student is 18 years or older; or
  • Student is 16 or 17 years of age and has withdrawn from parental control. 
• Contact Police 
  • Contact police immediately if a trafficker is on-site or known to be a student, staff member or volunteer at the school. 
  • For a victim who has disclosed involvement in sex trafficking, offer to contact police, but respect their decision. If the victim agrees to police involvement, meet with police first to outline known information before the police meets with the student. 

Consideration for the following must be taken into account when determining next steps: 

• How to best support the student's immediate physical and emotional safety 
• Steps for safely reporting concerns to above mentioned parties, as applicable 
• How to best meet the safety and security needs of the student at present and in the future 
• For students with special education needs, information from the student's Individual Education Plan must be considered to inform next steps 
• How best to support the immediate safety and security of other affected students 
• How to best utilize culturally responsive and trauma-informed supports to support the student, affected students, and reporting/responding staff members. 

The following supports will be implemented for students involved in sex trafficking: 

• After disclosure that a student has been a victim of sex trafficking or a victim also involved in recruiting other students for sex-trafficking, an academic and non-academic support plan will be developed in collaboration with school and board staff, community partners, and the family, to support the student until their return to school. 
• To support a victim of sex-trafficking, including a victim who may have been involved in recruiting students for sex-trafficking, before returning to school a transition meeting will take place with those involved in the academic and non-academic support plan to develop a School Safety/Support Plan involving connection to the school social worker (SSW) or, a DSB1 Indigenous Student Advisor where appropriate, and continued work with community partners (e.g. First Nation communities) and agencies. Regular check-ins with the school counselor will be incorporated into the plan and the plan will be updated as necessary.  
• A student who has facilitated sex-trafficking other students, including recruiting, will be subject to progressive discipline and safe schools as outlined in Policy/Procedure 2.1.18 Safe Schools – Student Discipline, Bullying Prevention and Intervention including Suspension and Expulsion. This will include the development of an academic and nonacademic support plan as appropriate, a transition meeting prior to return to school to update the non-academic support plan, and the continuation of non-academic supports, such as counseling after return to school. 
• Friends of a victim of sex trafficking will be referred to the school social worker for check-ins and ongoing support. Families will be provided with information about available community support services.  Where appropriate, siblings who attend school may also be referred to the school social worker for checkins and ongoing support. 
• Additional support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for someone who may be a victim of sex trafficking by calling the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-833-900-1010. This Hotline connects victims and survivors of sex trafficking to law enforcement, emergency shelters, transition housing, long-term supports, counselors, and a range of other trauma-informed services. Services are offered in 200+ languages and are accessible to the deaf, hard-of-hearing and non-verbal. 

Staff will document incidents in our schools related to sex-trafficking. After the necessary reporting has been completed (e.g. child protection agency, police), a record of the situation and steps taken throughout the process will be maintained by the school. 

 Intervening in these situations can be very challenging and can have impacts on staff who are providing support. DSB1 offers resources to these employees through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP). 

4.0             Training for school board employees 

This protocol outlines a process for providing ongoing training for DSB1 employees, including teachers, administrators, and other school staff. Training will include the following elements: 

• Key definitions, common misconceptions, and myths about sex trafficking, including tactics used for online luring, grooming and recruitment. 
• Learning about human rights-based and trauma-informed approaches to combatting sex trafficking, responsive to First Nations, Métis and Inuit cultural competencies, and the needs of low-income communities within anti-oppressive, anti-racist, equitable and gender-based frameworks. 
• Information on protective factors and prevention-focused supports and resources. 
• Information on risk factors and signs that a student is at risk, being lured, groomed, or trafficked. 
• Signs that a student is or involved in luring, grooming or trafficking others. 
• Response procedures, including the duty to report, how to handle disclosures to support students’ safety, how to support students impacted by sex trafficking and how to share information to ensure privacy and confidentiality. 
• Supports available to students and affected staff, including culturally responsive supports. 
• Additional training resources to support staff to understand and safely respond to sex trafficking. 
• Roles and responsibilities of DSB1 employees in raising awareness, identifying, and responding to sex trafficking. 

The training will be tracked and be available throughout the year to all new and existing DSB1 employees. Training may vary dependent upon stakeholder roles and responsibilities within the system. Training will be updated and delivered regularly to stay current with emerging issues relating to trafficking and changes in community services and response.  Community partners and online resources will be utilized to accomplish the training. 

5.0             Measuring success:  accountability and evaluation 

The Ministry of Education will collaborate with school boards, as well as anti-human trafficking partners, to develop a performance measurement framework. This framework will monitor the effectiveness of training (for example, whether staff feel they are more aware and more able to safely identify and intervene in situations where a student is suspected of being trafficked or trafficking) and whether the protocols respond to the needs of students.  

Working alongside community partners, DSB1 will look to review and reflect on how this Policy and Procedure was used to help children and youth stay out of, or exit, human trafficking. Internal performance indicators will include student and staff surveys to measure the efficacy of the learning and training materials, as well as an examination of our internal referrals to the Mental Health Team for supports relate to trafficking or suspected trafficking. 

Appendices

Appendix A: Glossary of Terms