Buckling up is the most effective way to protect yourself in a crash. Wear your seatbelt. It could save your life.

Saturday, April 27 is National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

If you have unwanted prescription drugs or over-the-counter medicines, this is a great opportunity to safely discard them.

Enter your ZIP code to find a collection site near you. 

Properly disposing of medicines is important to human health and environmental protection.   

• Don’t flush medicines down the toilet or drain. Doing so could affect drinking water sources.
• Don’t throw medicines directly in the trash. Doing so could lead to the poisoning of a child or pet, or drug abuse by a teen or adult. 
  
• Do find out how to properly dispose of medicines (PDF).

Read this post in Spanish.

Learn how to read the warning signs and make sure you’re ready.

In most states, you can be pulled over and ticketed for texting while driving. Some states also ban handheld cell phone use.

Any activity that distracts a driver can lead to a serious accident. Other common distractions include eating and drinking, grooming, reading maps/directions, adjusting the radio, and more.

These activities may seem harmless, but the fact is that hundreds of thousands of people in the United States are killed or injured every year as a result of distracted driving. 

What can you do? Concentrate on driving when you’re behind the wheel—it’s not the time for multi-tasking.

Look up the laws in your state and wherever you plan to drive. 

Visit Distraction.gov to get more information about distracted driving.

By Katherine Chon, Senior Advisor on Trafficking in Persons, Administration for Children & Families

President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation 150 years ago, beginning the long road to freedom for the hundreds of thousands enslaved in homes, on farms, and other forms of industry. Considering how far we have come to abolish slavery as we once knew it, it might surprise some to learn that the Federal government is joining community partners to create a comprehensive strategic action plan to strengthen services for victims of human trafficking in its modern forms.

The International Labour Organization estimates that there are at least 21 million people around the world exploited in conditions of modern slavery, a dehumanizing practice of holding another person in compelled service. Human trafficking affects most countries, including the United States.

Human trafficking, or trafficking in persons, can take several forms and is defined by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) as follows:

Sex Trafficking: the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act, in which the commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; and

Labor Trafficking: the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.

Identifying Victims of Human Trafficking

Victims of human trafficking are commonly found working in the following situations:

• Prostitution and escort services;
• Pornography, stripping, or exotic dancing;
• Massage parlors;
• Sexual services publicized on the Internet or in newspapers;
• Agricultural or ranch work;
• Factory work or sweatshops;
• Businesses like hotels, nail salons or home-cleaning services;
• Domestic labor (cleaning, childcare, eldercare, etc. within a home);
• Restaurants, bars, or cantinas; or
• Begging, street peddling, or door-to-door sales.

And may exhibit any of the following signs:

• Evidence of being controlled either physically or psychologically;
• Inability to leave home or place of work;
• Inability to speak for oneself or share one’s own information;
• Information is provided by someone accompanying the individual;
• Loss of control of one’s own identification documents (ID or passport);
• Have few or no personal possessions;
• Owe a large debt that the individual is unable to pay off; or
• Loss of sense of time or space, not knowing where they are or what city or state they are in.

See the fact sheet, Identifying Victims of Human Trafficking, for more information.

Help for Victims of Human Trafficking

The White House held a forum this morning to engage Federal partners and non-governmental stakeholders in ongoing efforts to combat human trafficking. In one announcement, HHS Deputy Secretary Bill Corr invited the public to comment on the draft Federal Strategic Action Plan on Services to Victims of Human Trafficking in the United States. Learn more on how you can end trafficking.

The Administration for Children & Families is committed to helping victims of human trafficking through programs and resources including:

• The National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) is a toll-free, 24-hour hotline where victims of human trafficking and community members can seek information and get assistance through a phone call (1-888-373-7888) or text (BEFREE or 233733). The NHTRC received more than 20,000 calls in 2012, including more than 1,300 calls directly from victims and survivors of human trafficking.
• The Office of Refugee Resettlement’s Anti-Trafficking in Persons Program operates the Rescue & Restore Campaign which promotes awareness of human trafficking and builds coalitions and regional partnerships to increase outreach and identification of victims
• The Office of Refugee Resettlement certifies adult foreign victims  of human trafficking and provides federal eligibility letters to minor foreign victims of human trafficking so that they can receive services available for human trafficking victims
• The Family and Youth Services Bureau provides grants to service and technical assistance providers working with victims of trafficking through multiple runaway and homeless youth programs  and family violence and prevention services.

Find more information about how we are working to fight human trafficking.

If you need assistance or think you have come into contact with a victim of human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1.888.373.7888 or text BeFree (233733). The NHTRC can provide you immediate resources and help you identify and coordinate with local organizations.

Read this post in Spanish.