How to Help Victims and Survivors of Human Trafficking
May 23, 2024
Authored by: Victoria Carvajal
This article is made possible by the generous support from Taylor Tobey and Sarah Brodsky at 9Sail.
Victoria Carvajal
Human trafficking, sometimes called modern-day slavery, is the practice of traffickers using force, fraud, or coercion to compel victims to engage in commercial sex or forced labor. It is a global issue with lasting traumatic impact on communities and individuals that is still not fully understood. As awareness grows, so too has interest in helping those being trafficked.
Traffickers often target people with existing vulnerabilities, including those experiencing poverty, substance misuse, cultural marginalization, and lack of a supportive social network. As a result, those who are currently being trafficked or were trafficked have specific needs that may differ from what advocates are accustomed. This article seeks to encourage, empower, and inform advocates, so through best practices, victims/survivors of human trafficking receive the help they need.
Implement a Trauma-Informed Approach
When helping a victim/survivor, it is important to rethink how one traditionally practices law and to adopt a trauma-informed approach. Trauma-informed lawyering is the practice of putting a client’s experiences at the forefront of the attorney-client relationship and adjusting throughout the relationship according to the client’s needs. It focuses on understanding a client’s perspectives, emotions, and values, including the possible effects of prior trauma on decision-making (research has shown trauma can negatively impact a client’s executive function and self-regulation).
For example, it may take a long time for trafficking victims/survivors to feel comfortable enough to remember and share their trafficking experience. Trauma affects memory, so survivors may not recount the experience in a linear way or may remember more details later. Advocates should not expect to get a client’s entire account in their first meeting; a trauma-informed practitioner will plan for this and be prepared to meet with a client multiple times. This also means a victim/survivor may need to take breaks or even end a meeting if recounting their experiences becomes too upsetting to continue. Advocates should remain patient and understanding of the client’s comfort level, prioritizing the client’s feeling of safety over getting things done as quickly as possible. If the client sees a professional for therapy and/or related mental health treatment, it can be beneficial to schedule meetings around the time the client has an appointment with their provider who can then help them process what was discussed during your meeting.
It can be tempting for advocates to ask survivors for extreme detail, especially in particularly egregious cases. While this instinct comes from a place of well-meaning and a desire to properly prepare a case, advocates should keep in mind the emotional toll and re-traumatizing effect this level of detail can bring. Instead, advocates should focus on the legal factors and avoid sensationalizing for the sake of shock value.
For more on understanding and incorporating a trauma-informed approach into your legal practice, please check out VLJ’s January 2024 blog post, Understanding Trauma-Informed Legal Services: A Compassionate Approach to Law Practice.
Provide Support and Empowerment
Traffickers rely on the extreme control they have on their victims, taking away their agency and making decisions for them. Because of this, victims/survivors may feel strongly about making decisions on their case or may not fully realize they have a say. Advocates can support victims/survivors by taking a collaborative approach and ensuring clients are always at the forefront of major decisions. It is especially important to keep victims/survivors of human trafficking informed on the status of their case and to regularly remind clients they can make decisions about their case.
Victims/survivors often have had negative experiences with law enforcement and the courts. Advocates should recognize this distrust may extend to lawyers, so please do not take it personally. Instead, advocates should focus on creating a healthy attorney-client relationship with their client, including developing a positive rapport and level of trust.
Validate Emotions and Experiences
Victims/survivors often come from an experience where they were told their feelings did not matter or their traffickers taught them not to trust their own instincts and beliefs. They may associate feelings of shame with their experience, having been made to feel as if their experience/situation was a moral failing. As a result, victims/survivors may feel compelled to “convince” advocates their experiences were real or defend themselves.
Advocates can help victims/survivors overcome feelings of defensiveness or shame by validating what they are feeling and what they went through, making it clear they believe their client. While asking difficult questions is unavoidable, advocates should provide context and make it clear why they are asking so clients understand it is not coming from a place of judgment. Additionally, advocates should focus on the client’s strengths and accomplishments.
Self-Care
While it is important to acknowledge the many ways an advocate can help, it is equally important to recognize the limitations of advocacy. An advocate is not a replacement for mental health treatment or social work. While it is an honor to be entrusted with a victim’s/survivor’s story, the nature of trafficking work often means advocates are exposed to disturbing and upsetting information. It is important for advocates to extend the same patience and understanding they offer to their clients to themselves. Creating healthy boundaries, engaging in enjoyable outside activities, and seeking professional help are all ways advocates can protect themselves from vicarious trauma (sometimes called secondary trauma) that can lead to compassion fatigue. Ultimately, the better advocates take care of themselves, the better they can help their clients.
Resources
The reality of the diverse and expansive needs of victims/survivors of human trafficking is that it is rare a single advocate can assist them with all facets of their lives. In these instances, advocates should be prepared to share resources and point clients in the right direction. To that end, relationships with trafficking survivor service providers are essential. Indeed, not only will these relationships holistically help your client, they will also be avenues of learning and collaboration, making an embrace of trauma-informed legal services more successful and durable. A few resources for victims/survivors and their advocates are:
National Human Trafficking Hotline (1-888-373-7888)
New Jersey Coalition Against Human Trafficking
U.S. Department of State – Engaging Survivors of Human Trafficking
A Comprehensive Perspective on Treating Victims of Human Trafficking
Volunteer Lawyers for Justice’s New Jersey Trafficking Survivors Legal Assistance Program provides wrap-around civil legal services for victims/survivors of human trafficking in a number of practice areas, including criminal record clearing, trafficking-related immigration matters, and family law. To learn how you can either apply for VLJ’s services or volunteer to help victims/survivors, please click the buttons below.
