Opal Singleton

I am the Training and Outreach Coordinator for the Riverside County Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force and work part time for the Riverside County Sheriff.

I came out of retirement to volunteer to educate the public about child sex trafficking as it has become a national phenomenon. Human trafficking (teen prostitution) is the fastest growing crime in the U.S. and our teenagers are the target because of gangs and social media, chat rooms and online gaming.

I have trained tens of thousands of government officials, civic leaders, school administrators, faith-based organizations and corporations about how predators access, target, groom and recruit innocent young people into sex trafficking and ‘€œsextortion’€. I sit with parents of missing kids and talk with teens who are being blackmailed with a naked photo on the Internet.

It is my passion to train parents and grandparents about how predators groom teens through social media and online gaming and how to tell if your child is being recruited. More important, I educate parents on how to dialogue with their child to keep them safe.

We are at a unique time in history. We have a generation of young people who have never not known the Internet and generations of parents and grandparents that are technophobic. I realized that my experiences and expertise in working with law enforcement and exploited kids along with years of research on sex trafficking placed me in a position to equip parents everywhere with knowledge so they could keep their kids safe.

I have authored a book based on real cases entitled Seduced, the Grooming of America’s Teenagers. It is a real eye opener. Law enforcement, school administrators and parents alike have shared how valuable this information is.

Parents and Grandparents are CRITICAL in the fight to keep our kids safe. As long as kids have a secret world where they have all the knowledge, they are not safe. We must put the power back into parenting and grandparenting. Grandfathers can sit with their grandsons and learn about their avatar, what they stand for, how they got their points and most important, WHOM they talk to in their chat rooms. Talk to them about pornography, respecting girls, real and virtual violence and the importance of having character. You don’t have to know how to use technology to learn to dialogue about it.

YOU ARE NEVER TO OLD TO MAKE AN IMPACT ON A CHILD!