January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month and our theme is Advocates & Allies. We’re highlighting the tools, resources, policies, and funding that elevate the important work providers do to support youth survivors of commercial sexual exploitation. Here are just a few:
Texas Child Sex Trafficking Team (CSTT) – The Governor’s Child Sex Trafficking Team was created in 2015 to provide a five-part, holistic approach to ending child sex trafficking in Texas. A collaborative effort, the Team works to Protect and Recognize children and youth through public awareness efforts and screening tools that identify potential victims, Recover victims, Support Healing of survivors through trauma informed practices, and Bring Justice for survivors through investigations and prosecutions and by empowering survivors. The Center, the TACFS nonprofit supporting arm, is supported by the CSTT in helping to build sustainable capacity and improve the quality of residential and emergency placements that serve youth who have been exploited.
My Life My Choice – Based in Boston, My Life My Choice provides an Advanced Residential Institute on Serving Trafficked and High-Risk Adolescent Girls. This intensive program is designed for congregate care program leaders to develop the strongest possible approach to the young people they serve. Through grant funds, the Center has been able to send several providers to the My Life My Choice Institute.
Allies Against Slavery (Allies) – Since 2010, Allies mission has been to eradicate human trafficking. In 2016, they published a report that aimed to gauge the economic impact of human trafficking in Texas. The numbers were startling and led them to create a groundbreaking software called Lighthouse that allows providers to screen and identify victims, track services across communities, and follow survivor outcomes. For example, from the Allies tool, “Data from over 100,000 screenings shows that individuals with the highest risk for sex trafficking in Texas are females of color between the ages of 14-17.”
Research Triangle Institute International (RTI) – RTI is a nonprofit research institute that offers a free Outcomes for Human Trafficking Survivors Instrument (OHTS). The tool is designed to track a program that serves survivors of human trafficking as it develops and improves, and it can identify resource gaps. The Center has facilitated training on the instrument for many of the Texas operations awarded CSEY technical assistance through the Center since 2020.
Westcoast Children’s Clinic – The West Coast Children’s Clinic is a private, non-profit children’s community psychology clinic based in the Bay Area working to remove barriers to access to care and to improving the next generation of mental health professionals. Westcoast created the Commercial Sexual Exploitation-Identification Tool (CSE-IT) as an early identifier of youth who may be experiencing sexual exploitation or human trafficking. They developed the tool after releasing research that found that 75% of trafficked youth are exploited for multiple years before their abuse is recognized.
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Learn more about CSEY and the Center’s partners. Follow our social media for more content during National Human Trafficking Prevention Month 2024.