Evaluation of the National Human Trafficking Hotline Program

2016-2024

The primary objective of this project is to develop and execute an evaluation of the National Human Trafficking Hotline (NHTH), a 24-hour toll-free line which provides assistance and service referrals to potential victims, service providers, law enforcement officials, and other individuals who contact the NHTH, and also provides time-sensitive tips to appropriate local, state, or federal law enforcement authorities. Specifically, the evaluation will:

  • Describe the activities, procedures, and organization of the NHTH, including staff training, staff capacity, and service delivery;
  • Describe the customer service of the NHTH, for example who contacts the NHTH, what information or assistance do they seek;
  • Describe the immediate outcomes of the NHTH, specifically with regard to experiences of callers and users;
  • Describe NHTH partnerships with service providers and law enforcement; and
  • Explore the creation of one or more new performance measures, to enable NHTH to explain its activities and accomplishments in an ongoing way to stakeholders.

Additionally, this project will collect information from individual NHTH users to examine the experiences of individuals who seek assistance from the NHTH after their interactions with the NHTH. 

This work is being conducted through a contract to RTI International.

A second phase evaluation of the National Human Trafficking Hotline and other federally sponsored hotlines is being conducted as part of the Building Evidence for Trafficking Interventions and Response (BETIR) project.

Point(s) of contact: Mary Mueggenborg.

This study is registered on the Open Science Framework under the title Evaluation of the National Human Trafficking Hotline Program .

Information collections related to this project have been reviewed and approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under OMB #0970-0539. Related materials are available at the Evaluation of the National Human Trafficking Hotline Program information collection page on RegInfo.gov .

The most currently approved documents are accessible by clicking on the ICR Ref. No. with the most recent conclusion date. To access the information collections (E.g. interviews, surveys, protocols), click on View Information Collection (IC) List. Click on View Supporting Statement and Other Documents to access other supplementary documents.

 

Related Resources

This brief provides detailed findings from the contactor follow-up survey, including the extent to which contactors perceived the National Human Trafficking Hotline (NHTH) to be helpful.

This brief provides a high-level executive summary, as well as a synthesis of lessons learned, and considerations for future practice described across the briefs and reports published as part of the evaluation of the National Human Trafficking Hotline (NHTH).

This brief provides detailed information on help seeking behavior from individuals accessing the NHTH, including what types of help they seek, what help they receive, and how NHTH staff interact with contactors.

This brief provides detailed information regarding the demographics of the NHTH’s contactor population.

Find detailed information on the NHTH’s referral directory and partnerships with local hotlines, services providers, and law enforcement.

This report describes the approach RTI International used to systematically evaluate the National Human Trafficking Hotline, including in-depth descriptions for each data collection method and evaluation limitations.

 

This report describes the history and purpose of the National Human Trafficking Hotline, as well as a synthesis of the organization’s structure, operating procedures, and training mechanisms.