Child welfare is a key part of a comprehensive systems-level response to human trafficking. In recent years, child welfare agencies across the U.S. have initiated or strengthened strategies to address sex trafficking of children and youth in their states. Much of this work has been in response to requirements within federal legislation, such as Family First Prevention Services Act, Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, Preventing Sex Trafficking and Trafficking Victims Protection Act. While federal mandates create commonalities in required actions across states, child welfare response models for addressing sex trafficking of children and youth vary greatly. State-level responses have included policy and practices related to training, screening, child protective investigations, case management, multidisciplinary approaches, specialized services, and more. Having worked on developing responses within their respective states, the presenters have seen the importance of ensuring child welfare professionals, service providers, and other stakeholders understand child welfare’s role in serving youth who have experienced trafficking and responses that have been developed for identifying and serving these youth. This understanding can enrich collaborative responses at both the state, community, and case levels. This presentation will address child welfare’s role in responding to CSEC through the lens of federal requirements and the broader lens of safe harbor principles. Presenters will discuss common questions about child welfare’s response, including information on child welfare’s roles, responsibilities, and jurisdiction. To highlight variance in child welfare responses at the state level, presenters will also provide a comparative analysis of two differing response models in Florida and Minnesota.

Presentation Objectives:

· Provide a better understanding of the relevant intersecting federal laws directing child welfare’s role in serving CSE children and how these federal requirements are being implemented at the state and local level

· Discuss common questions about the role of child welfare in responding to CSEC

· Highlight/compare the distinct response models for CSEC, including policy and practice in Florida and Minnesota

Read More

Social workers (RSWs) are on the frontlines of responding to vulnerable and marginalized individuals, including those who are experiencing human trafficking and gender-based violence (Mahapatra, Faulkner, & Schatz 2016). It is therefore increasingly important that RSWs are adequately trained to 1) recognize risk factors associated with human trafficking, 2) provide immediate and appropriate support after identification, and 3) aid and advance long-term recovery (Dell et al., 2019; Donnelly et al., 2019; Hodge, 2014). The Ontario Association of Social Workers (OASW) online education programming aims to address knowledge and practice gaps by providing social workers with targeted knowledge on identifying and supporting persons who have experienced human trafficking. This evaluation study seeks to identify what differences, if any, these online training opportunities made to the knowledge, confidence, skills, and practice of social workers in the context of human trafficking. Using Donald Kirkpatrick’s evaluation framework of continuing education for adults, the evaluation is comprised of: (1) a post-webinar survey to assess change in knowledge, satisfaction, and intention to change practice; and (2) a 3-month follow-up survey to assess how change in knowledge is retained and used in practice. Early findings from participants are overwhelmingly positive. Participants report increased knowledge (91%) of different types of human trafficking, supporting the process of exiting human trafficking (81%), and increased confidence identifying signs of human trafficking (91%). Additional analysis from follow-up surveys will be shared. Future directions for social work education and how to eliminate practice gaps for social workers in supporting human trafficking survivors will be discussed.

Presentation Objectives:

· Highlight the increasingly critical front line role social workers play in supporting persons experiencing or exiting human trafficking

· Review the importance of social workers being equipped to identifying signs of human trafficking, facilitate safe and appropriate exit from human trafficking, and support long-term recovery of survivors

· Share findings from a recent program evaluation study on virtual education offerings aiming to increase skills, knowledge, and confidence of social workers working with individuals who are experiencing or have experienced human trafficking

Read More

In 2015, the North Carolina General Legislature passed Session Law 2015-279, mandating the inclusion of “sex trafficking prevention and awareness” in reproductive health education in North Carolina schools. With a state mandate in place, North Carolina school districts were responsible for selecting a human trafficking prevention curriculum for their district. Current human trafficking prevention curriculums are variable, as curriculum is developed and created by organizations with differing lenses and levels of experience with violence prevention. Curriculums also vary in their foundation in and adherence to best practices for violence prevention education. With a multitude of available curriculums that have differing lenses or elements, school districts planning to implement human trafficking prevention education are left to identify which prevention curriculum would be best to use in their schools. In 2020, in partnership with the NC Sexual Violence Prevention Advisory Council of the NC Department of Health and Human Services, NCCASA developed a “Human Trafficking Prevention Curriculum Matrix” to assist NC education agencies in determining an appropriate curriculum. This presentation will explain the process used to create the matrix, present the findings of the survey process, and provide recommendations for the future of human trafficking prevention curriculum development.

Presentation Objectives:

· Explain the need behind the matrix and the gap that it fills

· Provide an overview of the process of creating the matrix

· Review the findings and final product of the matrix

· Describe lessons learned in the process of creating the matrix and recommendations based upon those lessons

Read More

This session will lay the foundation for understanding familial sex trafficking or when a child is commercially sexually exploited by an immediate family member. The session will explore how familial trafficking relates to but is distinct from incest and briefly how laws help or hurt our identification of this type of trafficking. The presenter will summarize the limited body of knowledge we have on the profile of victim and perpetrator(s) and explore the relational dynamics between the child and familial trafficker, pre-, peri, and post-trafficking. The session organizes around the justice processes of case identification, investigation, prosecution, and victim services, understanding how this type of trafficking presents unique challenges in each of those areas. This presentation is based on the work of Sprang & Cole (2018); Reid, Huard, & Haskell (2015); and a research study conducted by the presenter to be published in Criminal Justice Review in 2021.

Presentation Objectives:

· Define familial trafficking and help attendees understand how it relates to but is different from incest

· Give attendees a general understanding of the prevalence of familial trafficking

· Give attendees a basic knowledge of the profile of the victim and perpetrators of familial trafficking

Read More

The sexual exploitation of young men has been largely neglected. The main research question of this study is “What is the evidence that young men are exploited?” A series of research projects have been conducted in Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines by up” International using ethically considered mixed method surveys. Interviews are conducted by local social workers who are trained in doing research with male sex workers and street boys. All of the research papers indicate a high level of sexual and physical violence, stigma, and discrimination against young men providing evidence that they do sex work for survival similar to their female peers. Cultural misunderstandings continue to abound that imply young men are not at risk of sexual exploitation and that if they do sex work, it is relatively safe due to their inherent resilience; that they choose to do it rather than be forced into it as is perceived of their female counterparts. Social workers and Non-Profits working in this sector need to consider how they can support young men in prevention and aftercare. Funders and researchers need to include and not deliberately or otherwise exclude young men/boys in their programs and research. Funding needs to be available to determine prevalence and proportionate resources provided.

Presentation Objectives:

· Describe the cultural misunderstandings of why young men are not adequately considered in programs and research addressing sexual exploitation

· Provide evidence of how young men are exploited in SE Asia and so should be considered in research and programs addressing sexual exploitation

Read More

According to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (2015), 75% of counties are classified as rural, with one quarter of Americans living in communities with populations lower than 2,500. Yet so much attention and funding for anti-trafficking work is focused on large, urban areas. Since 2012, Fierce Freedom has worked to navigate through a sea of rural communities in Western Wisconsin. Participants will hear a recent example from this past Fall 2020 when our team was asked to respond to the call from another rural, in-state agency who had an alleged victim of human trafficking that required direct services from our Survivor Advocate. The series of exasperating and somewhat chaotic events that unfolded that day will be shared with participants - and the Fierce Freedom team will identify the ways they collaborated well along with the steps they missed. Through this experience and others like it, attendees will learn practical strategies centered around navigating interagency relationships, finding a balance of leading from the head and the heart, and figuring out how to best offer direct services in an area of limited resources.

Presentation Objectives:

· Explain what front-end questions to ask when working interagency before getting involved

· Discuss how to maneuver the missteps many rural direct service agencies make and how to avoid them

Read More

Social service providers who are likely to encounter youth who engage in sex trading should be prepared to observe sex trafficking red flags and ask risk assessment questions. The goal of this research study was to understand whether and how social service providers observe sex trafficking indicators and screen for sex trafficking. A cross-sectional, web-based survey was disseminated to social service providers from organizations that are known to encounter youth at risk of sex trafficking: child welfare, youth justice, and non-profit social services (e.g., runaway youth, sexual violence). Participants (n=267) were asked to indicate whether they provided direct services to minors (n=245), adults (n=148), and families/foster families of minors (n=163). Participants were asked to determine the extent to which they asked clients sex trafficking risk assessment questions on a Likert scale, and how often they identified 45 sex trafficking indicators across 5 domains (e.g., behavioral health, physical health, client presentation, system involvement, social support/abuse). Assessment question means ranged from 1.4-2.5 (1=no clients, 5=all clients) across all questions and provider groups. The most commonly identified indicators across provider groups included behavioral health indicators (e.g., depressive symptoms, shame and guilt), history of child protective services, and weak ties/lack of social support. Least commonly identified indicators showed more variation between groups but generally included signs of torture, false IDs, and hotel involvement. Providers who work in systems that encounter youth who trade sex may not be consistently assessing for sex trafficking, even though they are consistently identifying sex trafficking indicators. Implications will be discussed.

Presentation Objectives:

· Provide overview of a study of social service providers in a region of a Midwestern State

· Describe this sample’s perceptions of sex trafficking risk assessment questions and indicators

· Discuss implications and recommendations from the research study

Read More

In Haiti, one out of four women aged 18 to 24 years experienced at least one incident of sexual abuse as a child, about 4% of females aged 18 to 24 years received money, food, gifts, or other favors in exchange for sex prior to age 18 year, and more than one in 10 Haitian women have faced sexual violence at some point in their lives (CDC, 2015; DWB, 2017). Today, the number of girls and women who report experiencing sexual violence continues to be alarmingly high. Longer-term, safe, and secure shelter solutions remain one of the greatest and most urgent needs for a lot of survivors. The presenter will explore the importance of the mental health program of Nadege Inc., a non-profit organization that is implementing an empowerment center, focused on providing holistic care to women who have been trafficked and/or have experienced sexual exploitation in Haiti. He will investigate the five-phase system (acceptance, empowerment, creating safety, understanding, and community application) that is designed to help the residents move toward independent living and self-sufficiency. The healing services provided are focusing on psychological, physical, vocational, social, and spiritual well-being. The presentation not only describes the program and its positive results, but it also discusses risk factors of sexual violence for women survivors in the Haitian context, such as lack of social services for follow-up and protective care, inaccessible medical and psychological care for all rape survivors, political unrest, bad living conditions, insecurity, and the rise in kidnappings.

Presentation Objectives:

· Describe process and strategies for providing holistic care to Nadege Inc. safe house survivors of sexual violence

· Discuss risk factors of sexual violence for women survivors in the Haitian context

Read More

Human trafficking investigations require collaboration not only within law enforcement, but also with other organizations such as social service providers and private organizations. Potential stakeholder organizations that have never been mentioned regarding collaboration with law enforcement agencies about trafficking investigations are private investigations agencies. There is no empirical literature about the knowledge of private investigators (PIs) in regard to the problem of human trafficking, and their ability to conduct investigations of trafficking cases and rescue trafficking victims. An exploratory, cross-sectional survey research design was used. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants. A total of 81 participants completed the survey. The findings show that most of the PIs in this study had substantial experience in specialties that are important for investigations of human trafficking. Most of the PIs were former law enforcement officers. The findings show that the majority of the PIs not only had a good level of knowledge of the problem of human trafficking, but also that they had the ability to identify trafficking victims. In addition, the findings highlight PIs’ professional skillset and experience to investigate human trafficking cases, which can be crucial contributions to efforts of recovering human trafficking victims and prosecuting perpetrators. Implications for practice, policy, and research will be discussed.

Presentation Objectives:

· Describe what private investigators (PIs) are

· Describe PIs’ knowledge of human trafficking

· Explore skills that make PIs potential stakeholders in investigations of human trafficking crimes and the rescue of victims

Read More