Human Trafficking and Child Welfare: Scope of Agency Authority

Publication Date: April 27, 2022
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  • Published: 2022

Introduction

Research Questions

  1. What is the scope of child welfare agencies’ authority as it relates to child protective investigations of suspected human trafficking? How do these agencies determine that scope? What considerations impact that scope?

Human trafficking of children and youth, defined as the exploitation of minors for forced labor or commercial sex, is increasingly recognized as a public health and social justice concern. In recent years, federal lawmakers have highlighted the important role of child welfare within a comprehensive systems-level response to human trafficking. Several federal policies have defined the child welfare system’s role in identifying and responding to human trafficking involving children and youth.

As part of the Identifying and Addressing Human Trafficking in Child Welfare Agencies (IAHT) study, RTI International conducted primary data collection via one-time, cross-sectional qualitative telephone interviews with experts who lead human trafficking efforts in their state child welfare agencies across 25 states. The work was implemented as part of the Domestic Human Trafficking and the Child Welfare Population project.

Purpose

This brief describes the key themes that arose from interviews with state child welfare leaders regarding how their agencies define the extent and range of their authority as it relates to child protective investigations of suspected human trafficking. These themes highlighted two key areas that impact this scope: the relationship between the youth and the alleged trafficker and labor trafficking allegation codes.

Key Findings and Highlights

  • Twenty participants reported that their agency accepts cases of child trafficking that are facilitated by a caregiver, a non-caregiver third-party, or when the facilitator is not known. All but one of those participants also noted their agencies accept cases when there is no clear facilitator.
    • Of the five participants who reported that their agency accepts only cases involving caregivers, two reported actively seeking to expand jurisdiction via formal proposals.
    • Two other agencies who do not accept child trafficking cases facilitated by non-caregivers described the service pathways they leverage for youth who fall outside of the agency’s scope.
  • Labor trafficking is inconsistently included in policy. Nine participants reported their agencies do not have an allegation category for labor trafficking.

Methods

RTI conducted primary data collection via one-time, cross-sectional qualitative telephone interviews with experts who lead human trafficking efforts in their state child welfare agencies across 25 states. Interview questions were open-ended and covered topics related to identifying children and youth who have experienced trafficking, including types of cases accepted and allegations codes related to trafficking. All data were collected between March 2021 and February 2022. To analyze the response data, RTI used a qualitative content analysis approach, in which key points were summarized and organized by questions and domains. The results of this study are not designed to be representative of or generalizable to a given subpopulation.

Citation

Charm, Samantha, Latzman, Natasha, Gilot, Bethany & Dolan, Melissa. (2022). Human Trafficking and Child Welfare: Scope of Agency Authority. OPRE Report # 2022-85. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.