Human Trafficking
Human trafficking is a global crime that devastates lives. Each year, hundreds of vulnerable children and youth fall prey to human traffickers in our backyard.
Victims suffer physical and emotional violence, and even death, at the hands of predators who use them as a commodity to be sold and re-sold. Victims may be sold for commercial sex or forced to provide labor or services. Both are forms of human trafficking. Help is available!
National Human Trafficking Hotline
If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, call 1-888-373-7888 any time, day or night. Help is available in English or Spanish, or in more than 200 additional languages through an on-call interpreter.
The Riverside County Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force (RCAHT)
RCAHT works with local and national resources, including the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI. If you suspect someone has been a victim of human trafficking, call the 24-hour RCAHT hotline at 855-758-3733.
Additional help
Additional help is available through the Office on Trafficking in Persons, which can help victims rebuild their lives and become self-sufficient.
What Should Be Reported To Children’s Services?
Child abuse and neglect comes in many forms and can be an act or an omission that harms a child. It may include:
- Sexual Abuse
- Neglect (severe and general)
- Physical Abuse (willful harming or endangering of a child and unlawful corporal punishment or injury)
- Emotional Abuse
- Abuse or Neglect in out of home care
- Maternal Substance Abuse
The risk to children when Domestic Violence is occurring in the home is also considered neglect.
Physical abuse is when a parent or caretaker injures or traumatizes a child, and it’s not an accident. It also includes a parent’s or a caregiver’s failure to protect a child from another person who physically harms the child.
Sexual Abuse includes penetration or touching a child’s intimate parts, oral sex with a child, indecent exposure, using a child for prostitution, manufacturing child pornography, or any other sexual act performed in a child’s presence for sexual gratification. Child sexual abuse also includes a parent or caretaker failing to make reasonable efforts to stop child sexual abuse.
Emotional Abuse includes, but is not limited to, verbal assaults, ignoring and indifference, or constant family conflict.
Neglect includes any situation where a child does not receive proper care and/or is exposed to hazardous conditions such as drugs, domestic violence, or other issues, which threaten the child’s safety and wellbeing.
Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC) Outreach Program
Riverside County’s CSEC Outreach Program, along with schools, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, and healthcare providers work together to provide protective outlets and expanded options for sexually exploited youth.
Please contact the CSEC to learn more by emailing [email protected].