Strengthening Language Access for Survivors of Human Trafficking

As an immigrant child growing up in a home that only spoke Korean, the first time I ever heard the English language was in kindergarten. While I can’t remember what the first words or sentences were, I have a clear memory of the feelings that came with the inability to understand or to be understood. 

It was on the kindergarten playground and a boy shoved me aside as he cut in front of me to climb up the ladder of the slide that he had just came down. I was upset and shouted, but words in my native language did not connect with other children. I felt embarrassed that I couldn’t communicate to the teacher what happened. I was confused, wondering if this was just how things were going to be in my new environment. 

During Language Access Month, I’ve been reflecting on these early childhood memories and how important it is to decrease language-related barriers for people to access essential public services. I thought about the experience of the millions of limited English speakers who may have more serious life-impacting needs that they are not able to communicate. Inequitable access to services can have direct health consequences, with a study  (PDF) noting that patients in healthcare settings with limited English proficiency have more adverse effects on their health due to communication problems compared to English-speaking patients. Language barriers can also prevent people who experience crimes from reporting or to connecting with housing and other services as they recover from trauma. 

In response to the Language Access Plan that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published last year, we wanted to have a better understanding of language access needs among the survivors of human trafficking served through grant programs funded by the Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP). We also wanted to understand what type of language assistance or language-specific informational materials were requested to inform future plans for translation and interpretation.

OTIP grant programs are required to meet national Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS ) standards to be responsive to diverse cultural health beliefs and practices, preferred languages, health literacy, and other communication needs. Language access services are an allowable expense under OTIP grant programs. 

Here is what we learned:

Certification and Eligibility Letters:  Each year, OTIP issues Certification and Eligibility Letters to adults and children who experience human trafficking, enabling eligibility for refugee benefits and services.  Adults from 42 countries and children from 65 countries received such letters in FY 2023. When primary language was known, most recipients reported Spanish as their primary language. Notably, Bengali was the primary language reported most frequently by recipients in the Northern Mariana Islands, Tagalog by recipients in New Mexico and Wyoming, and Norwegian among recipients in South Dakota. 

National Human Trafficking Hotline: The 24/7 confidential hotline has the capacity to receive and respond to calls and text in English and Spanish; communicate with individuals who have hearing and speech impediments; and provide real-time interpretation in at least 50 languages. The Hotline’s website is now available in both English and Spanish. The Hotline’s National Referral Directory lists service providers attesting to proficiency in more than 60 languages. In FY 2023, the top type five non-English languages of Hotline contactors were Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin), Russian, and Vietnamese.

Trafficking Victim Assistance Program (TVAP): This national comprehensive case management program has assisted more than 15,000 foreign national adults and children experiencing human trafficking since its inception. Local service providers with TVAP funding spent more than $12,000 to support translation services for 1,147 clients in FY 2022. Service providers spent $2,000 to support translation services for 659 clients in FY 2023. The decrease in spending on direct translation services in FY 2023 is due to administrative changes where grant recipients included interpretation costs into overall case management support instead of separate expenditures. 

Domestic Victims of Human Trafficking Program (DVHT): This place-based grant funding for comprehensive case management services for U.S. citizens and lawful permanent resident survivors of trafficking has served more than 6,500 individuals since the program’s inception. Service providers with DVHT funding spent $1,545 to support translation services to 22 clients in FY 2022 and spent $2,320 to support 5 clients in FY 2023. 

Look Beneath the Surface (LBS) Public Awareness Campaign: OTIP has expanded efforts to create and disseminate information and resources directly to individuals who have experienced or are at risk of experiencing human trafficking. In FY 2023 and FY 2024, OTIP increased the number of materials in development for audiences with limited English proficiency informed by several data sources. OTIP created materials posted in subway stations, bus stops, and via tractor trailers in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole. Other resources include: