Florida's State Board of Education now requires all schools, from kindergarten to grade 12, to teach human trafficking prevention and Joy Smith says Canadian schools should do the same.

Joy Smith, the founder of the Joy Smith Foundation, says the issue of human trafficking in Manitoba and Canada is "extremely big."

In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis says, "Tragically, human trafficking is an epidemic in our country. Children of all ages need to know and understand the hazards of human trafficking and how to protect themselves from dangerous predators."

CBN reports that Florida schools will be required to provide their implementation plan by December 1 to be posted on to the school's website for parents to review. It must outline the materials, resources, and instruction type that will be used for each grade.

Students will only be able to opt-out of this teaching with signed, parental consent.

"We have a curriculum which we take to schools right now on human trafficking. It's very logical for kids to be taught how to prevent being lured into the sex trade," says Smith.

The average age of people lured into the sex trade, Smith says, is between 12 and 14 years of age. "I've dealt with victims even younger than that," she says.

A common misconception is that human trafficking only happens in impoverished countries.

"You know there must be a lot of trafficking in Florida going on or then they would have never put the curriculum into the schools," says Smith.

She's right. Florida ranks third in the United States for human trafficking.

Smith argues that this content is not too heavy or difficult for any child of any age: "It doesn't have to be done in a scary way, make it age-appropriate."

She says, "It is much better to make the kids aware of what could happen because, after the fact, those kids through a living hell. Why in the world wouldn't you protect your child from danger?"