Protecting Kids Online: A Conversation with Francey Hakes

Francey Hakes is a child protection advocate who served as the first-ever National Coordinator for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction from 2010 to 2012. She was a prosecutor for more than 15 years, serving first as an Assistant District Attorney specializing in crimes against children, then as an Assistant U.S. Attorney specializing in technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation. The United States Attorney General appointed her to the post, which was created by the U.S. Congress in the Protect Our Children Act of 2008, and which was housed in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, DC. As the first coordinator, Francey was responsible for creating the inaugural U.S. strategy addressing child sexual exploitation entitled, The National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction, which was submitted to the U.S. Congress in August 2010.

She has been lead counsel on dozens of trials relating to child homicide and other crimes against children. She received her bachelor’s degree in Political Science, with a Global Policy Studies Certificate, from the University of Georgia. Hakes also holds a Juris Doctor from Ohio Northern University. She is now CEO of her own consulting firm, providing advice, counsel, and expert witness services to firms, law enforcement, governments, industry, and others on national security and the protection of children. You can follow her on Twitter @FranceyHakes.