MONROE, N.C. — The Alpha Delta Kappa-Pi Chapter of Union County hosted Coker College associate professor Dr. Suzan Pigford for an informative presentation on preventing human trafficking Saturday, March 8, at First Presbyterian Church in Monroe.
Pigford, who is the board chair of One Child at a Time, a nonprofit organization in Florence, S.C., emphasized different ways family members can educate children on the dangers of social media that can lead to being trafficked.
“We have to make it personal,” Pigford said. “We have to put ourselves in these shoes of victims. As a woman, what would it be like if I didn’t have access to resources that we as citizens recognize. It’s our duty individually to step up and do one thing that we can do to help one person.”
One Child at a Time’s main focus is making people aware of what human trafficking looks like and educating them on steps that they can take to prevent it.
According to missingkids.org, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received more than 27,800 reports of possible child sex trafficking in 2024. Of the children reported missing, 18% were likely victims of child sex trafficking.
In South Carolina alone from 2020 to 2023, the NCMEC reported 8,100 cases of child sexual exploitation.
Pigford said human trafficking starts “with the concept of making that profit,” but it stops when there is open communication between children and parents.
“Kids are living in a fantasy world,” Pigford said. “I recently went back to Webster’s Dictionary to look up the definition of ‘indoctrination.’ The highlighted word in the definition for me was to train someone in such a way to be uncritical of it.”
“We need to make sure that we educate one child at a time to ensure that they are aware of their surroundings, that they are safe and that we step up and take active steps to protect them.”
Teresa Broome, president of the local Alpha Delta Kappa-Pi Chapter, said she saw Pigford speak at a conference in Charleston, S.C., which left her impressed.
“We thought it would be worthwhile for us to have her here in Union County, and it was awesome,” Broome said. “She did an awesome job explaining trafficking, but I’m also concerned about, as is our sorority, about making sure people in our community in Union County know that it doesn’t just happen to one person.”
The Monroe sorority started community safety seminars in 2023, including seminars on protection from shooters and fraud prevention. The sorority plans to follow up and do other safety programs next year.
“It could happen in your neighborhood, it can happen in your own family,” Broome said of human trafficking. “We want to make sure that people are more aware of what’s going on and what you can do to help people or educate other people.”
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