This presentation offers a compelling narrative intertwining personal experiences as a survivor of sex trafficking with professional insights garnered from working with trafficked and at-risk youth and adults. Through the lens of lived experiences and expertise, the presentation aims to illuminate the vulnerabilities inherent within the demographic of those subjected to trafficking, shedding light on the complex interplay of societal, familial, and systemic factors. With a focus on fostering empathy, understanding, and actionable solutions, Nyki seeks to contribute meaningfully to the discourse at the IHTSJ Conference, advocating for comprehensive approaches to prevention, intervention, and rehabilitation.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Share personal experiences as a survivor of sex trafficking to provide insight into the realities faced by victims

•  Analyze the vulnerabilities within the demographic of those who are trafficked, drawing upon both personal experiences and professional expertise

•  Illuminate the intersectionality of factors contributing to susceptibility to exploitation, including societal inequities, familial discord, and systemic neglect

•  Advocate for comprehensive solutions aimed at prevention, intervention, and rehabilitation, informed by both lived experiences and professional insights

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Mr. Bandaranayake and Ms. Umrani will present findings from a survey of 150 individuals aged 15-18 across three groups in Sri Lanka's tea plantation areas: children living in plantations and attending school, children living in plantations who dropped out of school to work, and children who moved to cities for labor. The study aimed to understand their experiences and recommend measures to reduce dropout rates and improve safeguarding. Key findings revealed high rates of poverty, violence, abuse, and sexual exploitation. Many children leave school due to lack of resources, low family income, and pressure to work, often facing harsh labor conditions. Root causes identified include the long-term impact of Sri Lanka's colonial history, the 25-year civil war, and continued marginalization of the Tamil community. Plantation schools lack resources and qualified teachers compared to non-plantation government schools. The results underscore the urgent need for intervention. Recommendations include financial assistance for education, school system reform, expanded childcare, improved housing, strict enforcement of child labor laws, and rehabilitation services for abuse victims. A multi-stakeholder approach is needed to implement protective policies and programs. Attendees will gain critical insights into the circumstances faced by children in Sri Lanka's plantations and learn about potential collaborative solutions.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Provide an overview of the study, including main questions, methodology, and findings

•  Describe the key risk factors and root causes contributing to child labor and exploitation in Sri Lanka's tea plantations

•  Discuss the implications of the research and propose multi-stakeholder recommendations to address the issues

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While the body of research on effective interventions for female adolescents who experience trafficking victimization is growing, much remains unknown about literacy practices in these settings. Previous literature on female adolescents within residential care settings includes examining trafficking risk factors, treatment needs, and service delivery systems. To our knowledge, there is a lack of literature on trauma-informed literacy practices within residential care centers for adolescent victims of human trafficking. Through methodologies of walking and thinking with theory, the researchers explored the public spaces of the residency facility with the seven participants, recording literacy events and the participants’ perceptions. These posthuman and post-qualitative methodologies allowed the researchers to analyze the entanglements of local literacy events, cultural literacy practices, and care within one such facility for female adolescent trafficking victims in the Gulf South. To address the purpose, the researchers asked three research questions: 1) What are the local literacy texts of a trafficked youth residential treatment facility? 2) What are other local literacy events in the facility? and 3) What literacy practices are created by the entanglements of texts, literacy events, and the facility context? Participants included the facility’s seven leaders; data was collected in three phases of walking the common spaces. Findings include literacy practices of belonging, permanence, and remembrance; of spiritual guidance; of educational aspirations; and of individual creativity. This research sheds light into the possibilities for caring literacy practices within an alternative, residential, and educational space for recovering trafficked female adolescents.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Highlight the underexplored literacy practices within residential care settings for female adolescent victims of human trafficking

•  Shed light on the intricate interplay between literacy events, space, context, and care within these facilities

•  Advocate for the implementation of caring literacy practices within alternative, residential, and educational spaces for recovering trafficked female adolescents

•  Provide insights into how such literacy practices can contribute to the holistic recovery and empowerment of adolescent survivors

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Dr. Cleary and a selection of fellow participant researchers/writers will discuss the preliminary findings from a six-month creative writing project focused on the importance of friendship to social mobility. Fearless Writers was created as a way for university and high school students to work together to disrupt social separation caused by oppressive housing policies known as redlining. Inspired by a Zora Neale Hurston scholar (Rae Chesney) talk at the BGSU Black Issues Conference in spring 2023, the friendship between Hurston and Langston Hughes was used to “activate” the Community Empathy Write (CEW). This community writing project was grounded in history, theory, and both research and writing group method. This project was also inspired by recent groundbreaking research by Raj Chetty and colleagues published in Nature (2022) looking at the importance of friendship to economic mobility. The CEW prompts were informed by participant writers and community stakeholders who were engaged in phases of the writing. Each month, the community of writers were given three prompts, two poem/writing (one Zora, one Langston) and one news story distilling social science research about friendship. The presenters will discuss creative writing as a method to explore collective community experience of friendships. Participants of the conference will have the opportunity to hear a sample of short pieces written by members of the writing research community and learn more about the prompt development. The audience will have the opportunity to write into a prompt, share, and receive strengths-based feedback to get experience with the writing group method. Participants will learn about how the CEW fits into other community writing projects around the country and a movement within medicine nurturing empathy for patient experience called narrative medicine.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Provide an overview of community-engaged writing and collaborative autoethnography method to collectively explore the connection between friendships and economic mobility from personal experience wisdom

•  Describe the benefits of university/public school partnerships in elevating youth narrative about important social justice topics

•  Demonstrate how poetry can be used as data and part of legitimate participatory inquiry about social justice concerns

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This presentation plunges into the seriousness of child sexual exploitation in America and the criminal justice system. Sherri Jefferson will highlight challenging issues facing Juvenile Urban Sex Trafficking in the U.S. (JUST US) and share recommendations by the African American Juvenile Justice Project (AAJJP) based upon expertise. Participants will learn how the 17Ps (parents, principals, police, prosecutors, etc.) can be impactful in addressing victimization and criminalization and will understand how each can change outcomes. Stakeholders will learn how to effectively help victims of human trafficking and children who are charged as prostitutes. The presentation will educate, engage, equip, and empower the audience to understand facts versus fiction and the obstacles faced by Black families in this space.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Dismantle misunderstandings about Black victims of sex trafficking

•  Dismantle falsehoods about Black young women and girls

•  Discuss opportunities in direct services for this group

•  Provide a call to action for a fair criminal record reporting act for victims of sex trafficking whose offenses are beyond prostitution

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Access to services to victims of human trafficking in real time has been an ongoing challenge in the U.S. Victims of human trafficking rarely fit simply into the current service provision streams of unsheltered persons or victims of interpersonal or sexual violence. The Arizona community identified the need for a human trafficking specific response, and in February 2023, a statewide human trafficking hotline went live in Arizona. The Arizona Human Trafficking Hotline is a partnership between the Arizona Department of Public Safety and Arizona State University Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research with calls going to the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center (ACTIC) which is the Arizona Department of Public Safety 911 system. If the caller requests support services, the call is warm transferred to the Arizona Human Trafficking Hotline with trained agents. The Arizona Human Trafficking Hotline agents are led by a Lived Experience Expert with 12 years of experience providing supportive services including crisis response. The second Hotline agent is a native Spanish speaker. The Hotline agents provide immediate support through connections to services, assistance with transportation, emotional support, and assistance with providing basic needs. The Hotline agents can assist callers for up to 12 months of support. During the first year, the Arizona Human Trafficking Hotline received 1,187 calls with 112 unique cases developed with crisis and ongoing services provided. This presentation will describe the process of developing a response protocol including consent, information collection, response protocols, and capacity building activities in the Arizona community.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Discuss the process of developing and implementing a statewide human trafficking hotline

•  Describe the response protocols developed for the hotline including consent, response, and capacity building

•  Discuss the challenges faced and lessons learned during the first year of the Arizona Human Trafficking Hotline

•  Describe 4 specific cases and the hotline response activities

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Access to services to victims of human trafficking in real time has been an ongoing challenge in the U.S. Victims of human trafficking rarely fit simply into the current service provision streams of unsheltered persons or victims of interpersonal or sexual violence. The Arizona community identified the need for a human trafficking specific response, and in February 2023, a statewide human trafficking hotline went live in Arizona. The Arizona Human Trafficking Hotline is a partnership between the Arizona Department of Public Safety and Arizona State University Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research with calls going to the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center (ACTIC) which is the Arizona Department of Public Safety 911 system. If the caller requests support services, the call is warm transferred to the Arizona Human Trafficking Hotline with trained agents. The Arizona Human Trafficking Hotline agents are led by a Lived Experience Expert with 12 years of experience providing supportive services including crisis response. The second Hotline agent is a native Spanish speaker. The Hotline agents provide immediate support through connections to services, assistance with transportation, emotional support, and assistance with providing basic needs. The Hotline agents can assist callers for up to 12 months of support. During the first year, the Arizona Human Trafficking Hotline received 1,187 calls with 112 unique cases developed with crisis and ongoing services provided. This presentation will describe the process of developing a response protocol including consent, information collection, response protocols, and capacity building activities in the Arizona community.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Discuss the process of developing and implementing a statewide human trafficking hotline

•  Describe the response protocols developed for the hotline including consent, response, and capacity building

•  Discuss the challenges faced and lessons learned during the first year of the Arizona Human Trafficking Hotline

•  Describe 4 specific cases and the hotline response activities

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A recent study published in the Journal of Healthcare for the Poor and Underserved leveraged the medico-legal partnerships of HEAL Trafficking and Justice at Work to better understand healthcare utilization among survivors of labor trafficking. Using legal aid organization data, the purpose of this study was to describe the health care utilization and occupational exposures during trafficking among foreign-born people labor trafficked in the U.S. While 4.8 million people are subjected to forced sexual exploitation, up to 14.2 million experience forced labor exploitation. Despite its prevalence, existing research is limited with only 10% of all literature around human trafficking considering labor exploitation. Lack of education and awareness significantly impedes advocacy, prevention, and intervention efforts for this community. Recognizing the clinical touchpoints through which survivors of trafficking interface can equip healthcare professionals to better identify and address the needs of this community. This study is integral in beginning to describe the issue and identify avenues for intervention. Methods for this study included a retrospective analysis of immigration files for health data among 114 labor trafficked individuals. Researchers compiled de-identified narratives from legal documents to highlight potential identifiers of labor trafficked. Data gathered from this study informed a groundbreaking presentation for healthcare providers that reveals healthcare needs, utilization patterns, and intervention opportunities within the medical system and will be shared at this conference.

Presentation Objectives:

•  Explain why labor trafficking is often overlooked

•  Describe the risk factors of labor trafficking

•  Report what labor trafficking looks like in the community

•  Demonstrate how to respond to victims of labor trafficking

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This presentation examines the complex intersections of human trafficking, focusing child sacrifice and ritual abuse globally. These crimes are often fueled by desperation and greed, and exploit individuals and communities. By exploring these interconnected issues, this presentation aims to bring attention to cases often overlooked. We will delve into the realities of trafficking intertwined with the practices of child sacrifice and ritual abuse, providing a comprehensive understanding of the global scope and mechanisms of these crimes. The exploitation of individuals for profit and ritualistic purposes highlights the profound depths of exploitation present in our societies. These practices, shrouded in secrecy and manipulation, leave lasting impacts on their victims. The presentation will investigate documented cases from Africa and North America, analyze the role of the dark web in facilitating these crimes, and share testimonies from a frontline professional from Uganda and a Male Survivor from the United States, who have firsthand experience with these issues. By illuminating these interconnected phenomena, we aim to not only expose these crimes but also to advocate for increased awareness and support for affected individuals, fostering a path towards hope and healing.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Explore the intersections of human trafficking, particularly organ and sex trafficking, with child sacrifice and ritual abuse worldwide

•  Investigate real-life cases in Africa and North America, backed by dark web analysis, frontline professional testimonies, and survivor accounts

•  Raise awareness about these interconnected horrors and advocate for action through shedding light on the crimes and offering hope and healing

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