{"id":272770,"date":"2026-08-26T20:02:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T20:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/272770\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T20:02:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T20:02:07","slug":"preventing-children-from-falling-through-the-cracks-of-the-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/272770\/","title":{"rendered":"Preventing children from ‘falling through the cracks’ of the system"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Children\u2019s Advocacy Center of Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Lackawanna County district attorney\u2019s office and members of the county\u2019s Multidisciplinary Investigative Team gathered at Courthouse Square in downtown Scranton on Wednesday for the Red Sand Project, a national participatory art initiative raising awareness of human trafficking and exploitation. Participants poured red sand into cracks in the sidewalks surrounding Courthouse Square, a visual representation of the people whose vulnerabilities can allow them to fall through the cracks of our communities and systems. The Red Sand Project uses public art to start conversations about human trafficking, modern slavery and exploitation \u2014 and, most importantly, to move people from awareness to action. For CAC of NEPA and its multidisciplinary partners, that means recognizing that child sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children can happen in our own communities. The community\u2019s role begins before a child ever reaches the doors of a Children\u2019s Advocacy Center. Parents and caregivers can talk with children about healthy relationships, boundaries and online safety \u2014 and make sure children know they can ask for help without fear of automatically being blamed or punished. Schools and youth-serving organizations can strengthen prevention education. Professionals who interact with children can learn the indicators of trafficking and exploitation. Community members can pay attention to significant changes in a young person\u2019s behavior, relationships or circumstances and speak up when something does not seem right.<\/p>\n

\"LackawannaLackawanna County Deputy District Attorney Bo Loughney pours red sand through the cracks of the sidewalk of North Washington Avenue during the Red Sand Project human trafficking and exploitation awareness event on Courthouse Square in Scranton Wednesday, August 26, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Children\u2019s Advocacy Center of Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Lackawanna County district attorney\u2019s office and members of the county\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,727,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-272770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-photos-and-videos","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}