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County Commemorates Slavery Prevention, Human Trafficking Awareness Month

From left are Marilyn Fiore-Lehman, assistant district attorney; Leanna Luka-Conley, deputy commissioner of Adult, Children and Family Services; Christine Schuyler, commissioner of Social Services/Public Health Director; Chautauqua County Executive Paul Wendel Jr.; Kayleah Feser, Safe Harbour coordinator; Jim Quattrone, Chautauqua County Sheriff; and Sherri Rater, county administrative assistant to commissioner of social services. Submitted photo

In the past three years, 75 youth have been identified as being trafficked or at-risk of exploitation by the Safe Harbour program — Chautauqua County’s coordinated multidisciplinary response to ending commercial sexual exploitation and human trafficking of minors.

Simply defined, human trafficking is “taking advantage of someone for labor or sex in order to receive something of value (money, drugs, food, shelter, clothing).” The person being taken advantage of is forced, lied to, or blackmailed and threatened. When a person under 18 is engaging in sex or a sex act in exchange for anything of value they are, regardless of the circumstances, a victim of a crime.

Since its inception in 2016, Safe Harbour had primarily focused on prevention efforts.

Through the use of research and evidence-based curriculums, prevention educators with the YWCA of Jamestown have been teaching trafficking prevention and awareness education to students in kindergarten through 12th grades in several school districts in Chautauqua County.

In 2019 alone, 46 Chautauqua County youth were referred to the program.

“We recognize that this is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Kayleah Feser, Safe Harbour coordinator. “The more people that are trained to identify red flags and warning signs, the more referrals we receive.”

Safe Harbour, now a part of the Child Advocacy Program of Chautauqua County, is concentrating efforts on raising awareness and streamlining our community’s response to identified cases.

For more information, to schedule a training or to make a referral to the program, contact Feser at 268-1464 or feserk@capjustice.org.

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