Neely Mahapatra, MSW, University of Texas at Austin, Monica Faulkner, MSW, University of Texas at Austin, Rowena Fong, EdD, University of Texas at Austin, and Noël Bridget Busch, PhD, University of Texas at Austin.
Purpose: According to U.S. government, an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 men, women, and children are trafficked each year across international borders worldwide for sex and other purposes with 18,000 to 20,000 of those victims in United States (Albanese, Donnelly, & Kelegian, 2004; U.S. Department of Health, 2006). While research identifies the needs for service providers and victims (Clawson, Small, Go, & Myles, 2003; Feingold, D. 2005), there are still unanswered questions about necessary mental health services and collaborations in human trafficking (Bhaba, 2004; Bump, Duncan, Godziak, & MacDonnell, 2005; Chacon, 2006). A gap that exists in the literature is about successful collaborative efforts between law enforcement and service providers from their and victims' perspectives. This qualitative study is an evaluation of The Central Texas Coalition Against Human Trafficking (CTCAHT) addressing the research questions of what were the strengths and barriers of the Coalition in its work in addressing the needs of human trafficking victims, a specialized but insufficiently addressed population in the U.S. Method: Nineteen male and female adult respondents (10 service providers, 4 law enforcement, and 5 victims) were interviewed. In-depth semi structured interviews were conducted using an 18 item questionnaire. Interviews were conducted in participants' homes, businesses, or offices and were audio-recorded. Transcriptions were analyzed using a modification of the grounded theory method, an iterative process in which the researchers identified and coded broad themes from the interview transcripts, in order to reveal thematic relationships through conceptually clustered matrices (Charmaz, 2000; Miles & Huberman, 1994; Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Results: The analyses of the data answering the research question about the strengths of the Coalition yielded six themes: 1) consistency of membership and meetings; 2) effective communication and trust building among members; 3) service coordination; 4) members' motivation and commitment; 5) policy support, and 6) service/resource availability. Another six themes were identified when answering the research question of what were the barriers or challenges for the Coalition in serving the victims of human trafficking: 1) standardized protocols; 2) inadequate resources and available services; 3) barriers within law enforcement procedures; 4) information and communication barriers; 5) emotional needs and fear of victims; and 6) cultural competence barriers.
Conclusions and Implications: The study offers new findings for social work practitioners, policy makers, and researchers who are trying to improve interdisciplinary collaborations for human trafficking victims. As the study concludes, coalition building is strengthened through motivation and commitment, which is maintained through consistency in membership and meeting times. Policy support is enhanced through trust building. But standardized protocols and barriers within law enforcement procedures can lead to ineffective communication which may result in not meeting the emotional needs and addressing the fears of victims. The study highlights the need for social work agencies to evaluate their interagency collaborations through coalition building. It also offers implications for future directions for social service and law enforcement program development when expanding services, or developing and improving services to be culturally competent.
