Introduction
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) amended its child abuse prevention, mandatory reporting, and training requirements to include human trafficking in alignment with updates to state law concerning the definition of child abuse and neglect (TAC § 61.1051, Subchapter EE, Commissioner’s Rules on Reporting Child Abuse or Neglect, including Trafficking of a Child).
The purpose of this module is to assist and equip educators in meeting the training requirements for the Commissioner's Rule (TAC §61.1051) on reporting Child Abuse, Neglect, including Trafficking of a Child. Each district and open-enrollment charter school must maintain records that include the name of each staff member who participated in training (TAC §61.1051). It is the responsibility of the LEA to track the participation and completion of this training module locally.
Mandated Reporting Requirements
Training concerning prevention techniques for, and recognition of, sexual abuse, trafficking, and other maltreatment of children including those with significant cognitive disabilities, must be provided as a part of new employee orientation and to existing school staff not previously trained as required by TEC §38.004.
Legal Definitions of Human Trafficking
Warning Signs and Risk Indicators
Victim Vulnerabilities
Traffickers, Who Are They?
Educators Essential to Identification and Reporting
Local Education Agencies (LEAs) represent one of the largest professional resources for reporting suspected child abuse in Texas. It is critical for district leadership, educators, and school staff to remain vigilant in their identification and reporting of suspected child abuse, neglect, including the trafficking of a child.
How to Respond to An Outcry
Unpacking Law, Policy, and Educator Training Requirements
Administrator Requirements
How You Can Be The One
Information for Tracking Completion
Completion of the Module
Thank you for completing the Prevention and Awareness: Human Trafficking of School-Aged Children training. It is critical for district leadership, educators, and school staff to remain vigilant in their identification and reporting of suspected child abuse, neglect, including the trafficking of a child. As a reminder, it is the responsibility of the LEA to track the participation and completion of this training module locally.
District administrators who have access to an LMS or uses Google Classroom, can click on one of the buttons at the bottom of this page for an embed link that will allow them to embed the content into the district's system, similar to embedding a YouTube video. Teachers and administrators can also print the content if that is a better option. These options support tracking completions at the local level.