Charlice Byrd

Protecting Children from Predators

BY CHARLICE BYRD

In today’s brutally divided political environment, where both sides agree on very little, I’d like to think that we can all agree that nothing is more precious than the life of a child. Whether that child is in the nurturing embrace of a loving family, or unfortunately lives without the support and protection of his or her family. " Sadly, there are too many children in Georgia who are without a family. Georgia has approximately 13,000 children in foster care each day, with approximately 330 in Cherokee County, some of whom sleep in hotels due to not having a permanent home. In many cases, it’s far worse for these children than just not knowing their family or having a permanent place to live and grow up.

The Center for Public Policy of Georgia found that 46.7% of suspected or confirmed female child victims of domestic sex trafficking ran away from a group home or foster care placement. This is heartbreaking. Furthermore, access to social media and cell phones raise the risk of exploitation through recruitment by predators.

According to the Child Sexual Exploitation Team, every city in America is under siege by predators seeking to exploit our children. Online access has created a pipeline for them to recruit children through social media sites where juveniles are often seeking innocent interactions. Tactics such as “liking” a photograph and posting “flattering comments” are often a way predators initiate conversation with children. For youth who long to have someone who understands them, predators wait behind the screen to seek out vulnerabilities before exploiting them. Parents and caregivers must keep lines of communication open and know the signs of a child who is involved in one of these predatory relationships. Checking phones daily, to ensure children’s passwords are known, is a critical piece of keeping today’s generation safe. Blocking cash apps, routinely checking unknown numbers from the call log against a reverse lookup and knowing all friends that are

Parents and communicating with your children are first steps in preventing opportunistic caregivers must individuals looking for a target. However, direct intervention is keep lines of only the tip of the spear in this battle communication against exploitation of children. It is so important to help create and provide open ... safe home environments for children. Providing a safe place to live and the valuable life skills to live a healthy and productive life are vital to keep children safe. " Children in foster care are often the most vulnerable, and I believe it is our duty to protect them by helping them overcome severe odds and move forward with strength. I encourage you to get involved in any way you can to support foster children in Cherokee County, and Georgia, and help keep them safe. Rep. Charlice Byrd represents District 20 in the Georgia House of Representatives. charlice.byrd@house.ga.gov