This talk’s presentation is to finding innovative solutions and action steps to global and public health and mental health issues effecting vulnerable girls. An integrated, multidisciplinary and community base approach with an in-depth emphasis on the psychology of public health and preventive healthcare. Participants come away able to integrate learning outcomes into a cross-the-board overview of community based public health issues. To maximize usefulness a focus on culturally relevant evidence-based approach to public health has 4 components: identify the problem, identify risk factors or if possible, contributory causes, consider evidence-based recommendations for potential interventions to control or eliminate the problem, and develop a strategy for application of one or more public health and public mental health interventions into practice and with a monitoring and evaluation of outcomes. 

Forensic neuropsychological advances will be discussed and presented during this 45-minute presentation and discussed in terms of the cutting edge state of the art research. Attendees will learn treatment strategies that work based on the neuropsychological underpinnings of trauma specific to victims of sex trafficking.

The JuST (Juvenile Sex Trafficking) Response presentation brings together Shared Hope International’s research on services for juvenile sex trafficking victims with its analysis of state statutory protective responses. By combining research on these vital aspects of the child sex trafficking issue we seek to invigorate the important discussion of how to end criminalization of commercially sexually exploited youth, identify and respond to child trafficking victims and expand their access to appropriate service options.

For five years, Shared Hope International has completed statutory analysis of each state’s protective response laws under the Protected Innocence Challenge, a comprehensive study of state laws that is designed to inspire and equip advocates and motivate legislators and leaders to ensure every state has a minimum legal framework to combat child sex trafficking and protect the victims. Under the Challenge, there are six areas of law that must be addressed at the state level to effectively respond to the crime of domestic minor sex trafficking. Through in-depth statutory analysis, the laws of each state and the District of Columbia are assessed and a Report Card with a grade is provided annually to each state. The most complex area of law analyzed under the Protected Innocence Challenge relates to the protections for child victims.

While the Protected Innocence Challenge looks at “black letter law” to assess state efforts, the National Restoration Initiative focuses on implementation of service responses by bringing focus to the development of shelter and service options that, to date, have been inconsistent and minimally documented. To help achieve a consistent standard of care and build upon current promising practices, Shared Hope has hosted three national forums focused on service provision (2012), on child serving agency process (2013) and on statute implementation (2014). Each brought together stakeholders in shelter and services, child welfare and juvenile and family courts, policy development and survivor-leadership. Topics addressed included shelter and safety, immunity from prostitution or related charges, facility licensing, trauma-informed care, multidisciplinary teams, assessment and interagency cooperation.

At the intersection of these research projects is the JuST Response Project. The JuST Response presentation will explore the variety of approaches to establishing a state protective system response through statutes, protocols and services as informed by field research conducted for the JuST Response State Systems Mapping Report. The presentation will compare state protective system responses and protocols that ensure statewide implementation of protective models. Furthermore, it will highlight service provision models that exemplify elements of the holistic, multi-agency, collaborative approach essential to identifying and responding to juvenile sex trafficking victims regardless of the path they take to services. In light of recently enacted federal legislation that requires states to enact laws that allow child victims of sex trafficking to avoid delinquency and detention in favor of services, this challenging issue will be relevant for a broad range of agencies and service providers.

Versions of this presentation have been given at a meeting of the Kansas State Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Task Force, a meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General, the Indiana University McKinney Law School Fellowship Symposium, “In our Backyard,” the Kentucky Ending Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Conference,  the 31^st Annual National Child Advocacy Centers Conference, Breaking Free’s Demand Change Summit, the American Association of Child Residential Treatment Shelters Annual Conference, as the keynote presentation for both the 2015 Florida Human Trafficking Summit and the Children at Risk Annual Human Trafficking Summit and as a congressional briefing for the Victims’ Rights Caucus. Although a relatively new project, JuST Response is founded on years of research, including two Colloquium reports, the Protected Innocence Challenge, the National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking, The United States Mid-Term Review on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in America, the DEMAND. Report, and new research materials as they are developed.

Trauma in one generation has been found to impact the next. In ways both subtle and overt, the traumatized individual often brings the past into the present. For parents with a history of trauma, this can have a profound effect on their parenting.

In the case of human trafficking, trauma is often at the center. Trafficking typically involves fear, intimidation, and a sense of helplessness. The current workshop will focus on the intersection of trafficking, trauma and parenting. We will consider ways in which a parent’s trafficking experience might impact the parent-child relationship. Case examples will be presented in order to illustrate specific areas of vulnerability and to identify intervention options for caseworkers involved in a family system. Additionally, a trafficking survivor will be invited to join this workshop in order to share struggles and successes related to managing the effects of trauma in the context of motherhood.

Human trafficking is a systematic process of exploitation of human vulnerability. In a globalized and multicultural world, many victims share the commonality of having vulnerable or stigmatized identities, which have been exploited in trafficking situations. Typically, the systematic exploitation of intersecting identities such as gender, age, socioeconomic status, race, immigration status, language, disability, sexual minority status, type of work performed, history of trauma and/or drug abuse is part of the common narratives of many victims. Traffickers foster existing social biases to capitalize on victim's vulnerabilities. Therefore, the identification of victims and subsequent intervention and treatment should be directly linked to the understanding of identity-based vulnerability. Likewise, recovery interventions should be concerned with these issues. 

The Inclusive Human Trafficking Model (IHTM) is an evidenced based assessment and intervention methodology meant for multidisciplinary use. It offers a collection of interventions from mental health and civil rights perspectives intended to increase the understanding of exploited identity-based vulnerabilities and foster positive and healthy identity development in victims.  

The model underwent a rigorous validation process. The results revealed that the utilization of the model improves victim identification by 40 % when compared to business as usual conditions, as well as increased rater sensitivity in regards to issues of human vulnerability. In this workshop we will introduce the IHTM,  discuss utilization implications for case conceptualization and share intervention strategies that can help victims regain a healthy sense of self as they navigate mental health, advocacy and legal services. 

A unique survivor inspired perspective from a state certified, home-based direct service provider of adult female victims of human sex trafficking. Emphasis will be placed on the importance of safety planning, trauma informed care, community collaboration, cultural competency, and a standard of care for victims of sex trafficking.

The study explored the characteristics of child prostitution in a major city in the West African region. A convenience sample of children in prostitution, specifically girls below age 18 (n = 243), were recruited in Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso. A survey instrument was used to explore various variables including profile of children in prostitution, factors of vulnerability to prostitution; prostitution practices, compensations and related issues in child prostitution. The findings show that most children in prostitution in the city were from two countries that do not share borders.  Most native respondents practiced prostitution for survival and to support their families. In contrast, all the respondents from Nigeria practiced prostitution as victims of international sex trafficking. A key finding was that the majority of the children in prostitution surveyed were educated. Among the respondents, there were similarities in the major life events that contributed to their situation of prostitution. These life events include early separation with parents, sexual abuse, foster care, and forced marriage. Implications for policy, practice and research are discussed.

Joann Alicea, CFCI
Certified Financial Crimes Investigator, Compliance Officer, 18 Time Marathoner
https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=84438781

My name is Joann Alicea and since 2011 I have been lobbying the US Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network known as FinCEN to update the Suspicious Activity Report known as the SAR for a Human Trafficking Checkbox Category. The SAR is used by all US Financial Institutions to report on illicit activity by simply following the money. Please see my article published in the 23rd Edition of the FinCEN SAR Activity Review Trends, Tips and Issues entitled FinCEN SAR Checkbox for Human Trafficking by Joann Alicea; Page 67; Article URL listed below:
http://www.fincen.gov/news_room/rp/files/sar_tti_23.pdf
Can you please help me get this accomplished? Updating the SAR for a Human Trafficking Checkbox will do so much to help rescue victims, arrest traffickers by simply following the money trail in reporting the horrific crime of human trafficking through the SAR Process to Law Enforcement.

This presentation describes a specialized, trauma-informed system of care that has been implemented in Miami-Dade County, Florida to meet the needs of child welfare involved youth who have been commercially sexually exploited. This system of care includes three key components: 1) GRACE Court, 2) The Miami CARES Project, 3) The CHANCE program, and 4) The Survivor Empowerment Program. Key components of these programs will be described, including a panel discussion about the benefits of this collaboration and integration for the youth.

The products that we buy and use every day may have been produced or harvested by slave and child labor. Supply chains for products including technology, food, clothing, and more have all been linked to slavery. Therefore, we have the power as consumers to demand products that are made by people who are paid a living wage and not exploited. 

In this workshop, you will learn about how your personal buying habits are connected to slavery, how conscious consumerism can help offset the demand for slave labor, and design an action plan to activate your community to purchase and source ethically sourced products. 

Many different types of service providers are working to identify and serve youth who have been sexually exploited. In some states, including Minnesota, service providers from various sectors, including housing, victim-services, medical, and youth programming are working with youth.

In order to learn how these different groups are coordinating their efforts, and where there are areas of improvement, we propose having a roundtable to discuss lessons learned.  

The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) represents a particular challenge for mental health professionals across multiple services settings. Commercially Sexually  Exploited clients often have complex mental health needs and are at high risk for a broad range of adverse consequences and negative mental health outcomes.  Specifically, clients often have long histories of multiple traumatic experiences and high rates of PTSD, complex trauma, anxiety, depression, and substance use problems. Furthermore, they often present with significant engagement and retention challenges that can impede the progress of therapy.  In this workshop, presenters will describe Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and applications of this treatment with clients who have been commercially Sexually Exploited. The rationale for the use of TF-CBT with CSEC will be described, strategies for enhancing engagement with CSEC clients will be identified, and CSEC-specific applications of TF-CBT PRACTICE components will be described.   Presenters will also describe Project Intersect, a SAMHSA-funded project of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and the strategies and applications of TF-CBT that have been utilized through this service grant. Therapist feedback, CSEC client reports of their experiences in TF-CBT treatment, and outcome data collected through the Project Intersect program evaluation, will be shared with workshop attendees to further reflect the benefits and challenges of the provision of trauma-focused treatment with CSEC-identified clients.

Commercial Sexual Exploitation victims need a variety of services and individualized care.  Devereux Florida developed a treatment track for youth served in our programs, which includes inpatient residential care, foster care, and outpatient therapeutic services. Presenters will discuss the basis for developing the treatment track, how it is implemented in each level of programming, and what the challenges, successes, and lessons learned have been at each programmatic level. 

Human trafficking response has been in the forefront in regards to child welfare for the past several years. The Florida Legislature required the development of a screening tool for the identification of human trafficking victims. This program will review the tool development process, the training components, implementation across the child welfare and juvenile justice programs, as well as data collected and outcomes. This is a non-proprietary tool that can be shared with attendees.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will gain an understanding of Florida child welfare legislation and its impact on developing the Florida Human Trafficking Screening Tool (HTST).
• Participants will be better informed on the history of attempts to identify this cross over population in child welfare and juvenile justice.
• Participants will gain a better understanding of the impact of data collection in the development and implementation of the HTST tool.
• Participants will learn how critical the collaborative model across state agencies, juvenile justice and child welfare, and non-governmental providers (NGO) was in the development and implementation of the HTST.
• Participants will learn about current data collection and outcomes related to the HTST.

Lecture Format

1-1/2 hours

This workshop is for those committed to assisting trafficking survivors and their allies who have a basic knowledge of the trafficking assistance process.  It is an innovative approach to building effective collaborations necessary to reach, help and empower sex trafficking survivors.  We hope this workshop will encourage you to think creatively about your role in helping trafficking survivors. Spur you to build new collaborations to do this work, and give you concrete tools to accomplish these goals.  As you know there is no one perfect solution, no single best model, and that developing useful approaches is an evolutionary process.  We believe whatever approach you use must be "victim-centered."

This workshop will explore and educate participants on the growing rate of both male and female teen prostitutes on middle and high school campuses throughout high schools in the US.

Harmful social norms can lead to issues such as child marriage, child labor, and child trafficking. In this session, we will explore how social norms in the US and abroad can have negative impacts on children and societies. This will include an interactive portion to discuss the origins of norms, the pervasiveness of them in communities, and examples of how they’ve been harmful. For social norms occurring in countries globally, we will look at how UNICEF has approached these norms using case studies from specific countries. 

The session will conclude with a hands-on brainstorming portion to identify effective ways that governments, NGOs, and citizens can challenge these harmful norms in socially conscious ways.

This is a 10 week curriculum for trafficking survivors mandated by the courts to attend counseling. A group format is suggested due to the ability to share like experiences, and to allow for group modalities to be used. This curriculum uses evidenced based practice methods of evaluating the efficacy of the program and the progress of the participants. 

A critical analysis of various strategies adopted to prevent human trafficking and migrants smuggling (undocumented, irregular and forced migrations) as well as its subsequent criminal exploitation and abuse of particularly children and women in Ghana reveals that training, capacity building, educational and/or sensitization programs are concentrated on law enforcement agencies who are mostly corrupt and few social welfare organizations.

However, the author/initiator of this project is of a firm conviction that tourism, travel and hospitality companies, service providers and professionals are in the best position to provide that vital, but mostly taken for granted link which is missing in Ghana's and/or the international frantic effort to detect, prevent, deter and to end human trafficking and migrants smuggling which ultimately leads to extreme criminal exploitation and abuse of particularly children and women.

To understand the point of view posited above, the author/initiator wish to present the core services (value chain activities) that underpins the tourism, travel and hospitality industry which include but not limited to the following highlights.

Transport services providers (airlines, railways, buses, taxis etc) 

Accommodation facilities (hotels, guest houses, hostels, brothels, motels etc)

Food and beverage services providers (restaurants, bars, coffee shops, indigenous/local food vendors etc)

Professional intermediaries (destination management organizations, tour operators, travel agencies, tour guides, national/regional tourism agencies and departments, internet cafes etc)

Recreational, leisure, entertainment, shopping and sports facilities (cinemas, night clubs, fitness/spa centers, stadiums, casinos, museums, parks, grocery shops, super markets, shopping malls/centers etc)

From a professional and local knowledge perspectives, tourism, travel and hospitality services/facilities such as those enumerated above, constitute the oil that fuels all the domestic and international human trafficking and migrants smuggling industry that leads to obnoxious criminal exploitation and abuse of especially children and women, believing that perpetrators can hardly operate without accessing and/or using any of the tourism, travel and hospitality services and facilities mentioned above. This particularly holds true in the context of transportation which is also a key component of the definition of human trafficking and migrants smuggling by the United Nations (UN).

Undoubtedly, most of same services/facilities also serves as the sanctuaries for exploitation and abuse of children and women

The author/initiator wish to express absolute difficulty to imagine how human trafficking and migrants smuggling particularly, child trafficking could thrive and flourish in Ghana and for that matter anywhere in the world. For instance if majority of stakeholders operating in the transportation industry such as commercial vehicle (trotro/taxi) drivers and their assistants (mates) as well as officials and masters at various transport terminals/stations were trained to acquire and/or acquaint themselves with the prerequisite skills and tools to enable them identify perpetrators and victims of human trafficking and migrants smuggling.

Rightly so, these intrinsically intertwined phenomenon of human trafficking and migrants smuggling described extensively as a hidden human tragedy, has experientially proven to lead to repugnant abuses and exploitation of mainly children and women in the most devastating and inhumane manner. It must therefore be confronted aggressively and dealt with aggressively, swiftly and comprehensively.

Although men are integral to sexual exploitation of all kinds, little empirical research exists about them in the context of sex trafficking. Research and treatment of sex trafficking have been based primarily on the experiences of women and girls as trafficked victims. The networks of traffickers, the characteristics of men who consume sex, and the experiences of boys and men, including LGBTQ youth as victims are not well understood. This panel addresses these issues. The panel begins with an examination of the characteristics, attitudes and behaviors of men who buy sex. The next presentation explores the dynamics of men that become human traffickers. The focus then shifts to boys and men as survivors. The special vulnerability of LGBTQ youth is discussed. Finally, the lived experience of one survivor is presented, with suggestions for best practices in working with male survivors. Finally, the Discussant will outline the links between sexual exploitation and masculinity ideology, setting the stage for a more general discussion.