Developmentally Appropriate Integrated Services for Minor Victims of Human Trafficking

Under the FY 2018 Integrated Services for Minor Victims of Trafficking program, all grantees are required to serve all minor victims (boys and girls under age 18) of all forms of human trafficking (sex and labor). The grantee will work with OVC Program Managers and Training and Technical Assistance Providers to ensure all victims are served. Covenant House California (CHC), a nonprofit organization, is a provider of services to youth experiencing homelessness or who have been trafficked in Alameda County. This project represents the expansion of a full continuum of services at CHC’s program for minor victims of human trafficking – significantly increasing the number of youth in the midst of unspeakable trauma who can be stabilized, connected, and empowered with age-appropriate, trauma-informed care. CHC will apply the tactics, interventions, and approaches that it uses to identify and serve victims of sexual exploitation to those who have been trafficked for their labor, in hopes of extending the reach of its continuum to their plight. The program will serve an additional 50 youth per year, and increase the capacity to shelter minor victims of human trafficking by an additional eight beds. In addition to these direct services, CHC will increase its capacity to identify homeless youth who are victims of human trafficking but have not yet disclosed their trauma, increase the community’s capacity to understand and address the issue of human trafficking, and develop a replicable model of best practices for serving homeless youth in residential and youth development programs who are victims of sex and labor trafficking.
CA/NCF