Child trafficking issue addressed

VW independent staff/submitted information

COLUMBUS — A new toolkit released on Friday will equip Ohio’s communities to respond in a coordinated way to child sex and/or labor trafficking by establishing or strengthening collaborative, survivor-centered interventions.

The Child Response Protocol Toolkit is a joint project of the Governor’s Human Trafficking Task Force and the Ohio Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Commission, Victim Services Committee.

The toolkit recommends using its strategies to identify key stakeholders, to customize a local identification and response protocol, to learn human trafficking indicators, and to support vulnerable youth.

“This protocol will give established communities the opportunity to enhance their protocols while also providing a foundation for communities new to this work,” said Andy Wilson, Director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, whose agency houses the State Anti-Trafficking Director within the Office of Criminal Justice Services. “The preferred practices outlined in this toolkit will help Ohio communities provide the continuum of services children desperately need.”

The toolkit includes statutory definitions of trafficking and discusses how trafficking presents in Ohio, based partly on call data from the National Human Trafficking Hotline.

“Protecting vulnerable youth from the evil of human trafficking falls on everyone – families and communities alike,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said. “Knowing what to look for and having a coordinated plan are vital first steps toward stopping the victimization of kids.”

The toolkit also suggests the potential partners that could be involved in local response efforts from victim advocates to local law enforcement to the court system. In addition, the toolkit includes the most recent human trafficking statistics for Ohio cases from 2021. It also notes that individuals may be at an increased risk for trafficking due to inequitable access to resources, unstable living situations, previous history of abuse, and other reasons.

Further information in the toolkit covers Ohio’s Safe Harbor Law, the elements of trauma responsive care, and how to build a local child response protocol, including the duties of the centralized points of contact who coordinate care for survivors.