Bakhita Empowerment Initiative – Training Institute
Catholic Charities of Louisville, through the Bakhita Empowerment Initiative, has been providing training to professionals across disciplines since 2008, and has provided training for upwards of 30,000 individuals over those 12+ years, averaging 2,500 individuals trained per year. Bakhita is one of the few organizations in Kentucky that offers higher-level training on human trafficking specific topics, including: labor trafficking, guiding principles, and commercial sexual exploitation of children, among others.
Case Management with Human Trafficking Survivors: Trauma and Dissociation
Special Considerations for Foreign National Victims of Human Trafficking
Unaccompanied Minors: Services and Benefits for Minor Victims of Human Trafficking
Screening for Human Trafficking: What needs to be included in screening and protocol development?
Best Practices and Guiding Principles in Providing Services to Victims and Survivors of Human Trafficking
Assisting Human Trafficking Victims and Survivors with Accessing Benefits and Public Assistance
My Life My Choice: A Treatment and Prevention Resource for At-Risk Adolescent Girls
Labor Trafficking: How to Identify and Respond
Human Trafficking 101: Definitions, Overview, Laws, Indicators, and Resources for Victims
Identifying and Responding to Human Trafficking within the Medical Profession
The Intersectionality between Substance Abuse and Human Trafficking-
Child Trafficking in Kentucky: Identification and Response
Dynamics in Support Group Facilitation
- For foreign national victims: Applying for a T Visa, which provides temporary legal immigration status for up to three years, with the possibility of applying for permanent residency.
- For foreign national victims: Ability to receive certification from the Department of Health and Human Services upon receipt of a T Visa, thereby allowing the victim to qualify for public benefits, such as those received by refugees.
Rights of trafficking victims in Kentucky include:
- They are not culpable for crimes committed as a direct result of their victimization.
- They should not be detained in facilities inappropriate to their status as crime victims.
- They must receive necessary medical care and other assistance.
- They will be provided protection if their safety is at risk or if there is danger of recapture by the trafficker.
- Minor victims of human trafficking shall not be charged with prostitution or other offenses they were forced to commit as part of their trafficking. This includes not being charged with status offenses related to their trafficking (being a runaway, out of control of parent, or truancy).
Human trafficking is a form of interpersonal violence that involves exploitation for the purposes of commercial sexual activities or labor or services, through the use control to force or compel victims to engage in those activities.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) defines “Severe Forms of Trafficking in Persons” as:
Sex trafficking:
Commercial sex act induced by force, fraud or coercion, or in which person performing the act is under age 18. The term ‘‘commercial sex act’’ means any sex act on account of which anything of value is given to or received by any person. Exception to rule of control: When minors (under 18) are exploited in commercial sex, there is no need to show force, fraud or coercion
Labor trafficking:
Debt bondage means a person is under the control of their debtor as a security for debt, if the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt or the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined.
Involuntary Servitude is a condition of servitude induced by any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause a person to believe that, if the person did not enter into or continue in such condition, that person or another person would suffer serious harm or physical restraint.
22 U.S.C. § 7102, Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act. (2000). Sec. 201–103, 106th U.S. Congress.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-106hr3244enr/pdf/BILLS-106hr3244enr.pdf
25 typologies of human trafficking in the United States
Each typology has a unique business model, trafficker & victim profile, recruitment strategies and control mechanisms that facilitate that particular type of trafficking.
Polaris. (2017). The typology of modern slavery: Defining sex and labor trafficking in the United States. https://polarisproject.org/typology
You may have encountered trafficking victims without realizing their circumstances. It is important to know the “red flags” so that if you encounter a victim, you will be prepared with information to offer help or make a report on their behalf.
The following information on case identification provides a brief background on human trafficking, as well as tips for identifying and assisting victims. A trafficking victim may look like many of the people you see daily. You can help victims of trafficking get the help they need by looking beneath the surface for evidence of being controlled and exploited for either labor or commercial sex.
Guiding Principles for Agencies is for agencies serving survivors of human trafficking.
The Bakhita Empowerment Initiative represents Catholic Charities of Louisville on the HHS Region 4 Human Trafficking Advisory Group, with membership representing the states of Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, and Kentucky. This group worked with regional partners and national organizations to create and revise the Guide for Agencies Providing Services to Survivors of Human Trafficking.
You may download the Guide, with hotlinks, here. If you would like a hard copy, please contact Marissa Castellanos *limited hard copies are available*
Guiding Principles Webinar Series
Webinar Part 2: Implementing the Guiding Principles: Lessons for Policy, Funding, and Practice
Webinar Part 3: A Deeper Dive into the Guiding Principles
COMING SOON
Human Trafficking 101: An Overview for Caregivers
This training, Human Trafficking 101: An Overview for Caregivers” is part of the Human Trafficking Training Series hosted by DCBS as part of the Improving Outcomes for Child and Youth Victims of Human Trafficking, funded by the Office for Victims of Crime.