ACF Creates New Office on Trafficking in Persons

June 10, 2015 | Mark Greenberg

Categories:: Families, Health Factors, Human Trafficking, Native Americans, Refugees, Runaway & Homeless Youth, Women’s Issues, Youth

Mark GreenbergBy Mark Greenberg, Acting Assistant Secretary

Earlier this morning at the White House, I joined our Federal partners and representatives from 52 states and jurisdictions at the National Convening on Trafficking and Child Welfare to discuss how we can collectively strengthen our country’s response to human trafficking across multiple systems of care, including child welfare, courts, runaway and homeless youth, juvenile justice, and education and health services.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) serves a broad range of survivors of human trafficking: adults and children; foreign nationals, U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents; and survivors of labor and commercial sexual exploitation. These services have been provided through various offices, including the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the Children’s Bureau, and theFamily and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB).

At ACF we believe that human trafficking is not only a violent crime issue, but it is a public health issue that affects individuals, families, and communities. We see our anti-trafficking efforts as a key part of our work to address and prevent violence against vulnerable populations. Therefore, we have been systematically working to institutionalize anti-trafficking responses across our multiple programs and increase coordination and collaboration.

Katherine Chon - Senior Advisor on Human Trafficking in Persons

Katherine ChonAs part of these efforts, ACF is establishing the Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP), to reflect the importance of anti-trafficking work, to coordinate our programs on behalf of both foreign and domestic victims, and to strengthen our attention to policy and practice issues relating to addressing trafficking across ACF. The Director of the Office will be Katherine Chon, who has led and coordinated ACF’s efforts to strengthen our response to human trafficking over the past two years as Senior Advisor on Trafficking in Persons.

The reorganization moves the anti-trafficking responsibilities from ORR Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division to OTIP within the Immediate Office of the Assistant Secretary. This work includes the certification of foreign national victims, the Trafficking Victim Assistance Program, Rescue and Restore Program, and the National Human Trafficking Resource Center. The reorganization also moves the domestic trafficking grants program from FYSB to OTIP.

I thank the staff at ACF who have contributed to our anti-trafficking efforts. Their continued hard work will be critical to achieving our vision for a united anti-trafficking structure that will enable us to more effectively serve victims of all forms of human trafficking, as laid out in the 2015-2016 ACF Strategic Plan and the Federal Strategic Action Plan on Services to Victims of Human Trafficking in the United States. The establishment of OTIP will also equip us to better coordinate with Federal partners, survivors, service providers, and other non-government stakeholders in the anti-trafficking field on implementing the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act, and Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act.

Three of the priority goals of OTIP, in collaboration with other ACF program and regional offices, will be to:

Establish a cohesive national human trafficking victim service delivery system that will serve victims of all forms of human trafficking, be guided by core standards of care, and include coverage for non-urban communities significantly impacted by human trafficking. The national delivery system will better leverage existing services available for foreign national and domestic victims of human trafficking, better leverage public-private partnerships, and strengthen coordination with other federal and state government funding mechanisms for trafficking victim services.
Develop a culture of data-informed anti-trafficking programming and policy-making, including the launch of a pilot national human trafficking victim service count, the incorporation of evaluation and standardized data collection in all anti-trafficking grant-making, and an increased number of quality reports and publications contributed to the anti-trafficking field.
Integrate anti-trafficking efforts into existing and new HHS prevention strategies, including creating targeted awareness and public health messaging to populations at highest risk for human trafficking and addressing the demand for human trafficking. Efforts will include stakeholder engagement and the creation of online training for health and human service providers that will also be accessible to all HHS employees.

In addition to the benefits resulting from the priority goals mentioned above, this change will:

Increase coordination and collaboration to inform anti-trafficking activities, policies, and guidance across health and human service systems, including refugee resettlement, runaway and homeless youth, domestic violence, child welfare, and our community health and public health partners
Continue to operate current grant programming for foreign national victims of human trafficking previously administered by ORR and for domestic victims of human trafficking administered by FYSB
Continue to release FY 2015 funding opportunity announcements for services to victims of human trafficking projected in the HHS Grants Forecast

We are excited for the impact that we will be making together to ensure that victims of human trafficking have access to the support they need to achieve health and well-being. For additional information, please visit the Frequently Asked Questions on the reorganization or be in touch with Katherine Chon.