Human Trafficking Prevention Month: Awareness Matters
January is recognized nationwide as Human Trafficking Prevention Month, a designation first established in 2010 to bring sustained attention to a crime that often remains hidden in plain sight.
Prevention begins with understanding who is most at risk and why. For communities in and around Fort Lauderdale, this means looking beyond headlines and focusing on the conditions that allow exploitation to take hold, especially during the critical transition into adulthood.
What Human Trafficking Looks Like in South Florida
Human trafficking does not happen somewhere else, to someone else.
It happens in ordinary places and affects people living in our own communities, including across South Florida. Florida’s size, its tourism-driven economy, and the number of young people navigating housing and financial instability create real openings for exploitation when consistent support is missing.
Trafficking is also widely misunderstood. It rarely begins with force. More often, it starts with manipulation and dependence. Traffickers look for unmet needs, a place to stay, money, emotional connection, or reassurance. Offers that appear supportive can slowly turn into control. What feels like help at first can become coercion before a young person recognizes what is happening.
State reporting shows that children and adolescents remain at the center of many trafficking cases in Florida. In the 2024–25 fiscal year, the Florida Abuse Hotline received more than 2,200 trafficking-related reports involving approximately 1,600 minors.
The vast majority of these cases were tied to commercial sexual exploitation. The Florida Department of Children and Families confirmed close to 600 of these reports, with the rise in verified cases reflecting improved frontline training, earlier recognition, and stronger collaboration across agencies rather than an actual increase in trafficking activity.
These numbers matter because they reveal both risk and progress. Child trafficking remains a serious issue, and earlier identification is improving. Prevention depends on recognizing vulnerability early and responding before exploitation becomes entrenched.
How Instability Raises Trafficking Risk for Youth
Young people aging out of foster care or experiencing housing insecurity often face overlapping challenges, including:
Being expected to navigate adulthood quickly, often without stable housing or financial guidance
Limited access to consistent adult support or mentorship
A sudden loss of structure, routines, and trusted relationships
Pressure to meet basic needs without a safety net
These risks are not the result of poor choices or lack of effort. They stem from unmet needs.
When young people are isolated, unsure where to turn, or focused on survival, offers that appear supportive can mask exploitation, especially during the transition from adolescence to independent adulthood.
Prevention Starts Long Before a Crisis
Human trafficking prevention is most effective when it begins early.
Stable housing, access to education, life-skills training, and reliable adult relationships reduce the likelihood that a young person will be targeted or exploited. Prevention is not a single program or intervention. It is the result of sustained support over time.
FLITE Center focuses on these protective factors by helping young people move into adulthood with structure, guidance, and continuity. Long-term relationships and practical support do more than respond to harm. They help prevent it.
This approach aligns with what statewide data suggests. Improved identification and outcomes are linked to stronger coordination, better training, and consistent engagement with at-risk youth.
Prevention works best when systems remain present, not when support ends abruptly.
How Communities Can Help Prevent Trafficking
Prevention is not only the responsibility of service providers or state agencies.
Communities play a role by staying informed and engaged. Learning the less visible signs of trafficking, supporting organizations that work with vulnerable youth over the long term, and advocating for extended care and transition resources all make a difference.
In South Florida, where mobility and economic pressure are common, sustained community involvement helps reduce isolation. When young people know where to find support and who they can trust, the opportunity for exploitation shrinks.
Final Thoughts
Trafficking thrives where isolation exists. Prevention grows where connection, stability, and opportunity are present. Human Trafficking Prevention Month is an opportunity to move beyond awareness and focus on what truly protects young people as they build their futures.
When support continues beyond a fixed age, fewer young people are left to face adulthood alone, and outcomes change.
You can be part of that prevention by donating or volunteering with FLITE Center, helping provide stable housing, guidance, and long-term support for young people transitioning out of care.