Human Trafficking and the Unaccompanied Minor Crisis: Ensuring the Right to Screening and Specialized Services

• In Event: Service System Strategies to Identify and Respond to Minor Victims of Human Trafficking

Abstract

Since 2014, a surge of unaccompanied minors has crossed the southern border of the U.S, fleeing from violence and poverty in Central America. When apprehended at the border, these youth are placed in Department of Health and Human Services custody and transferred to facilities, foster families, or sponsors across the country. This presentation describes findings from a two-year study conducted by the International Organization for Adolescents (IOFA) and the Partners for Change Program, Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, City University of New York. The study assessed the extent to which unaccompanied minors from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador are screened and identified as victims of human trafficking; and whether the receive specialized health, mental health, and other services as they are entitled to under U.S. law. The needs of unaccompanied minors will be explained and survey results assessing the identification, screening and referral of unaccompanied minors from more than 300 service providers across Florida and New York will be discussed. This study is expected to inform the field by increasing our understanding of the experience of trafficked children, their migration pathways, and gaps in their access to health services.

Author

• Alison Boak, The International Organization for Adolescents (IOFA)