PHR - Skills for Healthy Relationship (Lesson)

Skills for Healthy Relationships

Welcome to, “Skills for Healthy Relationships.” We will focus on the skills needed to build and maintain healthy relationships. Which of the following characteristics do you think is most important to building healthy relationships? 

• Similar likes and dislikes
• Mutual Respect
• Caring
• Honesty
• Commitment

 

Healthy Relationships

 

Healthy Relationships Video

Watch the Healthy Relationships video to learn more.

 

Complete the following learning interactive to see what you know!

Watch a video from the Administration for Children and Families Links to an external site.

Human trafficking is modern slavery. It involves exploiting a person through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of forced labor, commercial sex, or both. Many underage victims of human trafficking are students in the American school system. No community, school, socioeconomic group, or student demographic is immune to the threat of human trafficking. Cases of child trafficking are found in every area of the country - rural, suburban, and urban settings alike. 

The International Labor Organization estimated, in 2012, that children represented 26 percent (or 5.5 million) of the 20.9 million victims worldwide. Both U.S. citizen and foreign national children are trafficked for sex and labor in the United States. In fact, many child victims of human trafficking are students in the American school system. School administrators and staff need to be aware that cases of child trafficking are being reported in communities throughout the nation. No community—urban, rural, or suburban—school, socioeconomic group, or student demographic is immune. 

Few crimes are more abhorrent than child trafficking, and few crimes are more challenging for communities to recognize and address. For many people, the reality of trafficking in their community is difficult to comprehend, let alone confront. For educators and school personnel, the reality of these crimes and the severity of their impact are cause for a call to action. 

Schools can and should be safe havens for students, and even more so for some students whose lives are otherwise characterized by instability and lack of safety or security. In these cases, school personnel are uniquely well positioned to identify, and report suspected abuse and connect students to services—actions that can prevent trafficking and even save lives. Everyone who is part of the school community—administrators, teachers, bus drivers, maintenance personnel, food service staff, resource officers, and other school community members—has the potential to be an advocate for child victims of human trafficking, but, first, school community members must learn the indicators of the crime, its warning signs, and how to respond when a student is an apparent victim. 

Here are some terms to understand: 

• Consent - Consent is when someone agrees, gives permission, or says “yes” to sexual activity with others. Consent is always freely given. All people in a sexual situation must feel that they are able to say “yes” or “no” or stop the sexual activity at any point.
• Manipulate To control or influence (a person or situation) cleverly or unfairly. exploitation/exploit The unfair treatment or manipulation of someone to benefit yourself.
• traffic/trafficking To deal or trade in something illegal.
• Sex trafficking Sex trafficking is a form of trafficking. Sex trafficking occurs when someone is forced to sell sex.
• Child Sex Trafficking Child sex trafficking is a form of trafficking. It occurs when the person being forced to sell sex is under the age of 18. 

(Legal Definition): The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person under the age of 18 for the purpose of a commercial sex act. Child Sex Trafficking is a form of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC). It is also known as Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST). 

trafficker A person who exploits another person sexually for financial gain. A more accurate term for “pimp”. 

perpetrator A person who purchases sex from children or otherwise exploits them. A more accurate term for “john”. 

Grooming Grooming is a method of building trust with a child and adults around the child in an effort to gain access to and time alone with her/him. However, in extreme cases, offenders may use threats and physical force to sexually assault or abuse a child. More common, though, are subtle approaches designed to build relationships with families. The offender may assume a caring role, befriend the child, or even exploit their position of trust and authority to groom the child and/or the child’s family. These individuals intentionally build relationships with the adults around a child or seek out a child who may have fewer adults in her/his life. This increases the likelihood that the offender’s time with the child is welcomed and encouraged. 

The purpose of grooming is: 

• To reduce the likelihood of a disclosure.
• To reduce the likelihood of the child being believed. To reduce the likelihood of being detected.
• To manipulate the perceptions of other adults around the child.
• To manipulate the child into becoming a cooperating participant which reduces the likelihood of a disclosure and increases the likelihood that the child will repeatedly return to the offender. 

Victim-blaming When the victim of a crime or any wrongful act is held entirely or partially responsible for the harm they experienced. 

Generalization A general or broad statement made by inferring from specific cases. 

Stereotype The application of an exaggerated or oversimplified image to every person in a cultural group; or, a misinformed belief about members of a cultural group being applied to an individual member. 

Bystander effect Occurs when people do not offer any help to a victim when other people are present. Research shows that the more people that are present, the less likely someone will step in and help. 

Georgia’s Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention Technical Resource Guide (TARG) 

Human Trafficking in America's Schools Links to an external site. 

Trafficking: Look Beneath the Surface Links to an external site. 

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