Research
Research enables us to:
- Identify evidence-based practices to effectively assist individuals who have experienced trafficking
- Understand human trafficking victimization to inform targeted prevention and early intervention activities
- Make data available to those who want to end human trafficking
OTIP partners with multiple federal agencies and research institutions to support research on human trafficking through funding, technical assistance, and consultations.
Current HHS Research Projects
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State Requirements for Human Trafficking Data Collection
OTIP is researching the landscape of state legislation requiring assistance to victims and/or human trafficking data collection, with particular attention to privacy, security, and confidentiality policies and practices. The project includes a review of state legislation and interviews with anti-trafficking organizations, state agencies, and coalitions. OTIP will release findings in 2017. The project is a partnership with the Office on Women’s Health and the Lovelight Foundation.
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Pretesting a Human Trafficking Screening Tool in the Child Welfare and Runaway and Homeless Youth Systems
OTIP collaborated with other ACF partners in a project led by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation to examine, create, and pre-test a screening tool to identify victims of human trafficking in youth-serving settings. Learn more here: Pretesting a Human Trafficking Screening Tool in the Child Welfare and Runaway and Homeless Youth Systems.
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Domestic Human Trafficking and the Child Welfare Population, 2016 – 2018
The ACF Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation is leading a project to identify the knowledge base related to human trafficking and child welfare, identify risk factors for trafficking using state administrative data systems, further test measures and promising models, and develop designs for studies to inform services related to human trafficking and the child welfare population.
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Evaluation of Domestic Victims of Human Trafficking Demonstration Projects
The evaluation was led by the ACF Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) with key partners at the ACF Family and Youth Services Bureau and Office on Trafficking in Persons. Access the report for the rest of the story: Evaluation of Domestic Victims of Human Trafficking Demonstration Projects: Final Report from the First Cohort of Project, OPRE.
Past HHS Research Projects
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Study of HHS Programs Serving Human Trafficking Victims
The HHS Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation led a project to information on how HHS programs are currently addressing the needs of victims of human trafficking, including domestic victims (i.e., citizens and legal permanent residents), with a priority focus on domestic youth.