Introduction
The 2016—2021 evaluation of the National Human Trafficking Hotline (NHTH) was conducted by RTI International through a contract from the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in collaboration with ACF’s Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP).
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.
Purpose and Research Questions
The overall purpose of this project was to develop and execute an evaluation of the NHTH, with the following specific objectives of the evaluation:
- Describe the activities, procedures, and organization of the NHTH, including staff training, staff capacity, and service delivery.
- Describe the customer service of the NHTH.
- Describe the immediate outcomes of the NHTH, specifically regarding experiences of contactors.
Key Findings and Highlights
The methods described in this report were used to inform evaluation findings and will be used as a reference point for subsequent reports and briefs. These include:
- Evaluation Technical Background Report to provide study background and descriptions for each data collection method. This technical report will be used as a reference point for subsequent reports and briefs.
- Internal Operations, Protocols, and Training Report to document the NHTH’s organizational structure, procedures, and training approaches.
- Contactor Population Brief to provide detailed information regarding the demographics of the contactor population.
- Referral and Partnerships Brief to describe the NHTH’s partnerships with service providers and law enforcement.
- Contactor Help Seeking and Hotline Response Brief to provide detailed information regarding help seeking behavior among hotline contactors, including the reasons they access the NHTH and what types of help they seek.
- Contactor Follow-up Survey Brief to describe contactor perspectives of the NHTH.
- Evaluation Findings and Considerations for Future Practice to include a high-level executive summary, as well as synthesize lessons learned and recommendations made across previously described reports and briefs.
Methods
All evaluation data were collected by or in collaboration with the NHTH from 2016 through 2021. Eight data collection methods were used to inform the findings of the evaluation. Data collection methods, presented in the order in which they were collected, include:
- Review of NHTH database records
- Interviews with NHTH staff
- Interviews and focus groups with key NHTH partners
- Observational listening of NHTH contacts
- Case study interviews with law enforcement agencies receiving tips from the NHTH
- Assessment of the NHTH’s referral directory
- Case study of other similar national hotlines
- Follow-up survey with individuals contacting the NHTH
Appendix
Appendix
| File Type | File Name | File Size | Evaluation of the National Human Trafficking Hotline: Evaluation Technical Background Report—Appendix | 1,200.59 KB |
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Citation
Feeney, Hannah, Hardison-Walters, Jennifer, Charm, Samantha, and Kathleen Krieger (2023). Evaluation of the National Human Trafficking Hotline: Evaluation Technical Background Report. OPRE Report # 2023-159. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Glossary
- NHTH:
- National Human Trafficking Hotline
- Individuals who have experienced trafficking/survivor:
- These phrases will be used interchangeably to refer to individuals who are experiencing or have experienced human trafficking. At the time of data collection, the NHTH used the term “potential victim of trafficking” and thus, this phrasing may be present throughout the reports and briefs.
- Contactors:
- Individuals who have accessed the NHTH via phone, text, webchat, or email. Contactors may or may not be survivors of human trafficking. At times, when specifying contactors who connected with the NHTH via phone, the word “callers” may be used. The NHTH refers to contactors as signalers but endorsed the use of contactors for the purposes of this report for increased clarity.
- Contacts:
- Contacts are the individual level calls, texts, webchats, or emails received by the NHTH.
- Cases:
- Contacts are stored at the case level, whereby a case represents all calls, texts, webchats, and emails received regarding a particular circumstance of sex or labor trafficking. For example, if two independent community members contact the NHTH with two separate tips regarding the same potential victim, both contacts will be placed in the same case.