Building a Restorative Community for Survivors of Human Trafficking: A Case Study for Interagency Collaboration

Background and Purpose:

Human trafficking has been identified as a significant domestic and international social problem, affecting as many as 25 million people worldwide. Criminals generate billions annually in illegal revenue, yet survivors are left penniless as they strive towards rehabilitation and reintegration into society, facing a host of presenting problems. Agencies that could support people who have been trafficked may only encounter a few survivors at any point in time. In the limited available research, interdisciplinary, interagency collaborative approaches have been suggested as best suited to address the complex issue of human trafficking. Restorative community programs have been used to assist vulnerable populations such as returning citizens and survivors of domestic violence with reintegrating into society.

This study sought to create an in-depth understanding of the mentors’ experience, providing insight into opportunities created through differences of power and intersectionality. Further, a unique opportunity arose when the program transitioned from in-person to virtual due to the COVID-19 outbreak enabling the research team to study how agencies, volunteers, and survivors adapted to and supported one another through the pandemic.

This paper seeks to describe how an interdisciplinary collaboration of a non-profit housing provider, a house of worship, and a university worked to develop a program model that wrapped the community around survivors of human trafficking. To our knowledge, this is the first documented account of supporting the transition of survivors of human trafficking with a restorative community program.

Methods:

The restorative community program was designed, monitored, and evaluated by the Beck Institute on Religion and Poverty in the Graduate School of Social Service at Fordham University between August 2019 and August 2020. Survivors of human trafficking were referred by a non-profit housing and advocacy agency and paired with volunteer mentors, recruited through a local house of worship. Primary data was collected through two rounds of focus groups with mentors conducted as part of the ongoing developmental evaluation at mid and post-program, occurring before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Guided by an inductive approach to qualitative analysis, transcripts from focus groups were transcribed verbatim, coded, and thematically analyzed using within-case analysis across time sequence to compare themes.

Results:

Analysis of the data revealed the process for implementing a transformative program. While the forced isolation of COVID-19 caused a temporary pause in services, findings showed that the program was able to adapt and continued to build a restorative community. Relationship power dynamics between mentors and survivors shifted as survivors fared better than mentors immediately after the national shutdown. Balancing the expectations and needs of both mentors and survivors required particular attention and presented to leadership both a challenge and opportunity.

Conclusions and Implications:

This case study presents a framework for practice collaboration of non-profit agencies, faith-based organizations, and universities, with ongoing evaluation towards an evidence-based approach. This work calls for and informs policy development that encourages collaboration with funding and research. Finally, this study provides an exemplar for social work leading inter-related communities on paths towards social inclusion and social justice.