Breadcrumb
- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
"Safe Harbor" Laws: A Systemic Approach to Addressing Child Sex Trafficking
This module was created by the National Human Trafficking Resource Center to help service providers understand the intent of “Safe Harbor” legislation and learn about states that have enacted it.
'Margins of the Margins': FYSB Grantee Coordinates Response to Trafficking in New York
Edwin Gould Services for Children and Families, a New York City-based program, is one of three programs chosen to participate in a two-year demonstration project aimed at helping victims of severe trafficking. In this article, a representative from the organization discusses the project’s goals and wider efforts to combat trafficking in New York.
A Toolkit for Working With Children of Incarcerated Parents
Created jointly by the Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery (DBHR) within the State of Washington Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), Health and Recovery Services Administration and DSHS' Office of Planning, Performance and Accountability, and featured on the Children's Bureau website, this web-based training toolkit provides practitioners with the skills required to respond to the needs of children of parents who are in prison or have an incarceration history.
Bought and Sold: Helping Young People Escape from Commercial Sexual Exploitation
This booklet provides youth workers with an overview of the issue of human trafficking as well as concrete information about how to help survivors. Information about populations of youth that may be more at risk for trafficking, signs of sexual exploitation, tips for providing appropriate supports and services to survivors, and suggestions for when to involve the victim’s family and the police are included.
Bright Idea: Emergency Shelters Look for Human Trafficking When Youth Walk in the Door
This article provides tips for youth workers on recognizing youth who may be survivors of sexual exploitation. The article notes that many youth will seek services for other issues and, if made to feel comfortable, will divulge their experience with trafficking. The article recommends that youth workers have the knowledge to recognize the signs of trafficking, go appropriately off-script in their interactions with youth if they suspect trafficking is taking place, and maintain a non-judgmental stance when speaking with youth to build trust.
Don't Call Them Dropouts
A report from America’s Promise Alliance encourages readers to think differently about youth who have left school, suggesting a change in terminology, from “dropouts” to “nongraduates” or students who have had “interrupted enrollment.” As this article explains, youth voices are featured prominently in the report, which also highlights factors that influence students to leave school and the supports that can help them to return to and remain in school.
Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB)
FYSB supports the organizations and communities that work every day to reduce the risk of youth homelessness, adolescent pregnancy and domestic violence. Learn more about FYSB programs.
Guidance to States and Services on Addressing Human Trafficking of Children and Youth in the United States
The Administration on Children, Youth, and Families released, “Guidance to States and Services on Addressing Human Trafficking of Children and Youth in the United States,” which advises runaway and homeless youth programs and child welfare workers on identifying, engaging, and serving victims of human trafficking. Recommendations include using reliable assessment tools that focus on areas affected by trafficking, adapting evidenced-based interventions for this population, keeping facilitaties safe and educating young people on what to do if they are approached, and familiarizing yourself with resources and programs available to trafficking survivors.
Human Trafficking and Runaway and Homeless Youth
This module was created by the National Human Trafficking Resource Center to help service providers understand how human trafficking affects runaway and homeless youth, identify signs that indicate a youth is a potential victim of human trafficking, and identify resources for your agency.
Look Beneath the Surface
Developed as part of the Rescue & Restore Victims of Human Trafficking public awareness campaign, an initiative of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement, Look Beneath the Surface is an informational video that prepares viewers to identify and help victims of human trafficking.
Most At Risk: Population-Based Approaches for Helping Trafficking Victims
This set of articles explores youth populations who are most prone to trafficking and what youth and family workers can do to help them recover from that trauma.
National Human Trafficking Resource Center Student Toolkit
The NHTRC Student Toolkit (PDF, 15 pages) can help student leaders identify and raise awareness of human trafficking in their campus community. The toolkit includes resources to help students start an anti-trafficking student group, host events and disseminate materials to raise awareness about human trafficking, and promote awareness through social media.
National Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues
National Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues provides consultation, training, and technical assistance on all legal and judicial aspects of the child welfare system, including federal law, court improvement, agency and court collaboration, permanency planning, legal representation, and other emerging child welfare issues. The Resource Center, funded by the Children’s Bureau, is comprised of the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, the National Center for State Courts, and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.
National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections
The National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections at the Hunter College School of Social Work is a training, technical assistance, and information services organization dedicated to help strengthen the capacity of State, local, Tribal and other publicly administered or supported child welfare agencies in order to: institutionalize a safety-focused, family-centered, and community-based approach to meet the needs of children, youth and families. NRCPFC is a service of the Children's Bureau at the Department of Health and Human Services.
The NRCPFC is committed to providing T/TA & Information Services that are:
- Proactive
- Integrated
- Culturally Competent
- Collaborative
- Individualized
- Strength-based
- Family-centered practice
- Community-based practice
- Evidence-Based & Evidence-informed
Podcast: Victims of Sex Trafficking
The Department of Health and Human Services’ National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth produced a podcast featuring a Miami street outreach worker, who specializes in helping victims of sex trafficking, discussing how to approach and help sexually exploited youth.
Preparing Staff to Work with Trafficked Youth
Highlighted by the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth, these resources from the Polaris Project, an organization that works to combat sex trafficking and labor trafficking, can help youth-serving professionals learn how to work with youth who are survivors of human trafficking. A slideshow developed for service professionals provides an overview of the issue of human trafficking, associated myths, and challenges to victim identification and offers suggestions for raising awareness of human trafficking in local communities, reaching out to potential victims, and assessing and working with survivors. A downloadable assessment form is also available for youth-serving professionals to use to assess potential victims of human trafficking.
Protecting Student Privacy While Using Online Educational Services: Model Terms of Service
This Model Terms of Service (PDF, 9 pages) document is intended to assist schools and school districts in implementing the PTAC-issued guidance, Protecting Student Privacy While Using Online Educational Services: Requirements and Best Practices (PDF, 14 pages). The Model Terms of Service helps school officials evaluate terms of service agreements from providers of online educational services and mobile applications.
Rescue & Restore Victims of Human Trafficking campaign
The intent of the Rescue & Restore campaign is to increase the identification of trafficking victims in the United States and to help those victims receive the benefits and services they need to restore their lives. You can help spread the word about the campaign by using their toolkit and promoting the campaign with posters and brochures available on the site.
Runaway and Homeless Youth Training and Technical Assistance Centers
This resource provides technical assistance to runaway and homeless youth programs.
Services Available to Victims of Human Trafficking: A Resource Guide for Social Service Providers
This publication from the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Refugee Resettlement can help professionals learn how to connect victims of human trafficking to resources including food, shelter, clothing, medical care, legal assistance, and job training.
The Adoption and Safe Families Act: Barriers to Reunification between Children and Incarcerated Parents
This information packet, developed by the National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections and featured on the Children's Bureau website, addresses how certain provisions of the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) create barriers to reunification for incarcerated mothers. The packet also includes information about amendments that some states have made to ASFA to address these issues, best practice tips for working with children of incarcerated parents, and other related resources
Understanding and Supporting Trafficking Victims
Highlighted by the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth, this cheat sheet from the Polaris Project, an organization that works to combat sex trafficking and labor trafficking, provides youth-serving professionals with a brief overview of the issue of human trafficking, as well as related laws, statistics, and common myths and misconceptions.
Web Forum Shares Tips on Providing Services to Young Victims of Human Trafficking
This article provides highlights from the web forum, Providing Services to Runaway Youth and Victims of Human Trafficking, which was cosponsored by the Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime and its Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Tips and takeaways from the forum include collecting data from trafficked youth to support future applications for funding, understanding that trafficked youth may not see themselves as victims, and promoting a victim-centered approach, versus seeing victims of human trafficking as criminals.
When a Parent Is Incarcerated
Developed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and featured on the Children's Bureau's website, this guide provides information to public child welfare agencies and caseworkers on working with incarcerated parents and their children. Goals of the primer include familiarizing child welfare professionals with the impact of incarceration and providing information to child welfare and correctional systems to help improve permanency outcomes for children.
ACF Creates New Office on Trafficking in Persons
ACF announced the creation of a new office, the Office of Trafficking in Persons (OTIP), which will coordinate all ACF programs related to foreign and domestic human trafficking. This blog post outlines what the reorganization will look like, the priority goals of OTIP, and the ways in which the development of this new office will strengthen ACF’s anti-trafficking efforts.