Identifying the Need for Human Trafficking Training and Response Protocols Within a Youth Services Agency

Abstract

Human trafficking training involving didactic sessions supplemented by problem-based learning methods took place with youth services specialists in a southern state. Data were collected confidentially and voluntarily using descriptive and bivariate statistics and qualitative responses. Outcomes from the training compared knowledge attainment and differences between regional perspectives. The authors anticipated the pre- and post-training survey data would show significant learning of human trafficking concepts after the first didactic session, with the second session reinforcing these lessons through problem-based learning exercises utilizing a case study. The authors also expected there to be resulting changes in participant (n = 19) attitudes and responses to youth who were at risk of or experiencing human trafficking. Although participants learned concepts of human trafficking, the lessons were not equally accepted or internalized. Comments gathered from participants through post-training interviews revealed a range of responses. The participant’s employer lacked an agency-wide response protocol and, thus, without external guidance, participants struggled with personal biases regarding youths’ consent and choice. This exploratory study highlights the need for agency-wide human trafficking response protocols that incorporate screening tools. Future research should focus on reviewing agency interactions with youth and developing comprehensive response protocols that include screening and universal education.

Keywords:

• Human trafficking
• indicators
• intervention
• screening
• sex trafficking

Disclosure Statement

The authors report a relationship with the Mississippi Department of Public Safety that includes funding grants. The lead author (Hurst) is a member of the Mississippi Human Trafficking Council supported by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety through the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. She chairs their subcommittee on Strategic Planning and Protocol Development and was the PI on an awarded funding request for this project. The third author (Hogan) is a former member of the Mississippi Human Trafficking Council and received travel reimbursements through the funding award. The remaining author (Brazeal) declares no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tamara E. Hurst

Tamara E. Hurst has over 15 years of experience in anti-human trafficking efforts. She currently serves on the Mississippi Human Trafficking Council and chairs its Strategic Planning and Trafficking Protocol subcommittee. Dr. Hurst was the principal investigator of the SOAR to Health and Wellness Demonstration Program. This five-year federally funded program seeks to establish human trafficking response protocols and a continuum of care in nine of Mississippi’s southeastern counties. Dr. Hurst was also a co-director for the USM Center for Human Trafficking Research and Training.

Michelle Brazeal

Michelle Brazeal’s research has focused on effectively creating integrated healthcare practices that promote a holistic system of care. Since 2012, she has developed, implemented, and managed collaborative, integrated care projects in Mississippi. Through these projects, she has studied the impact of mood disorders and the social determinants of health on underserved populations. Her previous clinical practice focused on transitional-age youth with severe trauma-related emotional disturbances. She is the evaluator for the Center for Human Trafficking Research and Training’s SOARing in Mississippi grant.

Kimberly A. Hogan

Kimberly A. Hogan has worked in the antitrafficking movement since 2013 and is a former research project director at the Arizona State University Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research. Kimberly focuses on domestic sex trafficking and the therapeutic needs for exiting. She was the associate clinical director of the Phoenix Starfish Place, a home for women who had experienced sex trafficking and their children. She has researched human trafficking in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Nevada. She has received federal and state funding awards to conduct research in Mississippi, including a 5-year HHS award SOARing in Mississippi to provide training and build a continuum of care for human trafficking victims in Southern Mississippi. She served on the Mississippi Human Trafficking Council and was the Chair of the Training Subcommittee. Her research work spans the prevention, detection, identification, and treatment of minor and adult sex trafficking victims.