May 15 is International Day of Families , a time to raise awareness of the challenges families throughout the world experience. While human trafficking and other forms of abuse may only directly impact a child or their caretaker, the consequences affect entire families. When we ensure both children and their caretakers have the resources and support to lead healthy, safe lives, we will be better positioned to prevent human trafficking and achieve the long-lasting change needed to help keep families safe.
The 2021 Child Maltreatment Report, which includes sex trafficking as a maltreatment type, indicates 35 states reported 1,086 cases of child sex trafficking, a 14% increase from the 953 cases reported in 2020. The report lists several risk factors that can increase a child’s vulnerability for abuse, including a caregiver experiencing substance use or co-occurring disorders, proximity to other forms of abuse like domestic violence, unsafe housing or homelessness, and financial insecurity. These risk factors align with similar studies like the Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (PDF), which describes how children in households with low socioeconomic status are five times more likely to experience maltreatment than their peers with higher socioeconomic standing.
As this research illustrates, a caregiver's well-being can directly influence their child’s safety. Parents and other caregivers with access to protective factors , including concrete supports like safe housing, stable income, health care, and child care, are better positioned to provide safe and healthy environments for their children and buffer them from abusive situations like human trafficking. Correspondingly, access to affordable and safe childcare can often determine whether a caregiver can achieve positive change in their lives. When caregivers feel they can't provide for their children, they may develop stress, anxiety, depression, and other mental and behavioral health disorders. Children, in turn, may be negatively affected by their caregiver’s poor mental health, thereby creating cycles of adverse childhood experiences and intergenerational trauma.
Because caregivers and children have interconnected and interdependent relationships, providing holistic services inclusive of whole families can benefit everyone. Rather than providing support for either a caregiver or a child in isolation (e.g., substance use treatment centers and childcare centers, respectively), two-generation approaches (also known as whole family approaches) to strengthening family well-being create opportunities for and address the needs of children and caregivers simultaneously. Addressing social determinates of health , such as by increasing access to safe housing, education opportunities, and other community supports, will improve the conditions in a family’s life and advance their combined welfare. By changing the focus to building these protective factors instead of reducing risk factors, we can emphasize a family’s strengths and identify areas where they have room to grow with support.
In addition to helping to prevent human trafficking and other forms of abuse before they occur, two-generation approaches also strengthen long-term outcomes for people who have experienced human trafficking and those close to them. In their 2019 annual report , the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking acknowledged the intergenerational impacts of human trafficking, stating “many survivors have children who have been negatively affected by their parent’s trafficking experience,” and other research has demonstrated how trauma from human trafficking can challenge a parent’s ability to form healthy relationships with their children. Two-generational approaches recognize the adverse effects of human trafficking can extend beyond the individual directly impacted to affect entire families. As the Council recommends, to ensure this trauma does not transmit across generations, we must uplift “parents and children together with services and supports that will help them be safe, find financial stability, and be empowered to find new opportunities.” Developing and delivering family-led strategies that provide equal support for caregivers and children can help families foster resiliency, build capacity to achieve their goals together, and interrupt cycles of adverse conditions.
Here are some resources on two-generation approaches that can help change the way we prevent human trafficking and other types of abuse.
- The Human Trafficking Leadership Academy (HTLA) , comprised of survivor leaders and allied professionals and convened through OTIP’s National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Center , has developed two recommendations reports on two-generation approaches to preventing human trafficking. HTLA Class 3’s report discusses how anti-trafficking efforts can incorporate two-generation approaches to prevent human trafficking among minors, and HTLA Class 4’s report describes how state and local governments can use two-generation approaches to help people who have experienced human trafficking and their families reach financial stability through postsecondary and employment opportunities.
- The Two-Generation/Whole Family Approaches in Anti-Trafficking Programming Webinar discusses two-generation approaches, emerging trends, case studies, and best practices for providing supportive and comprehensive services for people who have experienced trafficking and their families.
- OTIP’s Victims of Human Trafficking in Native Communities Demonstration (VHT-NC) Program funds organizations to deliver comprehensive services to Native American adults and children who have experienced human trafficking and is informed by a culturally responsive whole-family approach that focuses equally and intentionally on services and opportunities for clients and their immediate family members living within their households. In 2020, OTIP awarded VHT-NC grants to six organizations, and OTIP is currently seeking applications for new funding opportunities.
- The HHS Office on Planning, Research, and Evaluation’s Defining a Two-Generation Logic Model overviews a two-generation approach for supporting primary caregivers and their children. It includes a template that can help practitioners who provide two-generation services identify core components of their initiatives and develop their own logic model.
- The HHS Children’s Bureau offers additional resources on two-generation approaches to child abuse and neglect prevention, including examples of how states, tribes, and local jurisdictions provide two-generation services to enhance family well-being and prevent child maltreatment.
When using two-generation approaches to prevent human trafficking, it is important to remember different cultures define "family" differently. Culturally responsive two-generation approaches are inclusive of different types of families as defined by their members, including nuclear, extended, and multigenerational families, as well as formal and informal kin. For example, Hawaii has launched (PDF) its version of a two-generation approach called “Ohana Nui,” which addresses the needs of children, parents, and grandparents concurrently. Challenging our traditional understanding of family and kinship will help us develop more culturally responsive and inclusive prevention strategies to make impactful and long-term change.
Children and caregivers succeed when everyone’s needs are met. This International Day of Families and beyond, OTIP remains committed to giving families the support they need to create a legacy of social and economic security. Together, we can help whole families thrive and prevent human trafficking across generations.