January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month
Refugee Programs Bureau (RPB)
NHTAD | Live and On-Demand Trainings | Virtual Event Series | Community Events | Signature Block
Background
The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) is committed to the eradication and prevention of human trafficking and the support of survivors of human trafficking in our State. During January 2025, you are invited to join the Child Trafficking Response Team and the Asylee and Trafficking Unit in virtual events designed to raise awareness of human trafficking in California, nationwide, and worldwide.
During National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, the efforts of lived-experience experts, survivor advocates, anti-trafficking entities, community-based organizations, law enforcement officials, communities of faith, businesses, and private citizens all around California to raise awareness about human trafficking are celebrated.
Human trafficking is the fastest growing and second largest criminal industry in the world. Human traffickers profit from the exploitation of adults and youth in our most vulnerable populations. Human trafficking is often visible, but not obvious, and therefore many may not realize it exists in their communities. As a result, cases are typically underreported, and survivors go unidentified. Males, LGBTQ+ youth, Native youth, and unaccompanied minors are disproportionately affected due to systemic injustices and incorrect assumptions about who is affected by human trafficking.
Presidential Proclamation on 2025 National Human Trafficking Prevention Month
National Human Trafficking Awareness Day
To raise awareness of human trafficking, the Department of Homeland Security’s Blue Campaign has created an initiative on January 11, 2025, #WearBlueDay. Join #WearBlueDay by taking photos of yourselves, friends, family, and colleagues wearing blue clothing and sharing these pictures on social media along with the #WearBlueDay hashtag. The Blue Campaign is a national public awareness campaign designed to educate the public, law enforcement, and other industry partners to recognize the indicators of human trafficking , and to know how to appropriately respond to possible instances of human trafficking.
Live and On-Demand Trainings
Trafficking and Crime Victims Assistance Program (TCVAP) Informational Session
Register for January 9, 2025, 10:00AM-11:00AM (Pacific Standard Time)
Presented by the Refugee Programs Bureau
The CDSS Refugee Programs Bureau (RPB) provides state-level leadership and coordination of programs and services to help vulnerable populations achieve successful resettlement and integration in California communities. Through the Trafficking and Crime Victims Assistance Program (TCVAP), the RPB works with all 58 counties to provide cash assistance, food benefits, employment, and social services supports to eligible noncitizen survivors of human trafficking, domestic violence, and other serious crimes. This webinar will provide an overview of TCVAP, the application process, benefits, and services. We encourage you to attend this session to learn more about how this program supports noncitizen survivors.
Stop, Observe, Ask, and Respond Online Training
Sign up for the SOAR online training.
The Stop, Observe, Ask, and Respond (SOAR) framework is designed to help professionals, individuals, organizations, and communities to Stop, Observe, Ask, and Respond to trafficking. The online training series equips professionals with the skills to identify and respond appropriately to individuals who have experienced trafficking or who are at risk of trafficking.
In the SOAR foundational training, you will learn how to apply the SOAR framework to identify and respond to trafficking. The SOAR framework was created by the United States Department of Health & Human Services, subject matter experts, and survivors of human trafficking to support a public health approach to trafficking and is an easy way for professionals to remember how to help individuals who may have experienced trafficking.
Virtual Event Series
Below are opportunities for CDSS staff to participate in virtual events designed to raise awareness of Human Trafficking:
County Child Welfare and Department of Education Collaborative Prevention Panel
Register for January 21, 2025, 10:30AM-12PM (Pacific Standard Time)
Partnerships between County Child Welfare departments and County Departments of Education can create valuable opportunities for prevention and early intervention of commercial sexual exploitation. Join the county panel to learn more about strategies counties have used to develop and maintain these partnerships, and what educational and support services they have implemented in their counties’ schools.
The panel will consist of professionals from Tulare, Madera, and San Benito Counties. They will be providing tangible, actionable steps that other child welfare professionals can implement in their counties to begin developing partnerships with their Department of Education and creating prevention and early intervention opportunities in their schools.
Trauma Informed Language Training
Register for January 7, 2025, 11:30AM-1:30PM
Presented by the CDSS Child Trafficking Program Support Unit alongside one of the lived experience experts from the Child Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) Action Team Advisory Board. This training will be live and there will be time for questions and activities.
Language is a powerful tool that impacts how we respond and think of victims or those at risk of commercial sexual exploitation. Although many of us are not interacting directly with children and youth, we are interacting with those who are. The language we use is important because it affects how direct service providers respond to children and youth. This training was developed to shift the way we discuss children who have been victimized and challenge common stereotypes. We need to be aware of our biases and how those biases inform our use of language when we are interacting, responding, or reporting occurrences of suspected abuse and/or exploitation. We will be showing a recorded training and then hosting an open Q&A discussion.
Hiring and Supporting People with Lived Expertise Training
Register for January 23, 2025, 12:00PM-1:30PM (Pacific Standard Time)
Join CDSS, the CSEC Action Team, and the Preventing and Addressing Child Trafficking (PACT) Project for an in-depth training during Human Trafficking Prevention Month focused on hiring and supporting lived experience experts in the workplace. This online event will be led by experts with lived experience—including current members of the CSEC Action Team Advisory Board and consultants from PACT. They will discuss the barriers lived experience experts face in the workplace, organizational readiness and culture, beneficial supports, and the hiring process. Please register using the link above, and we will follow up soon with the full agenda and more information about our amazing presenters!
Community Events
Coming soon!
Signature Block
Please add the below Human Trafficking Prevention Month image to your email signature block for the month of January.
For more information regarding California’s Child Welfare response to Commercial Sexual Exploitation, please contact the Child Trafficking Response Team (CTRT) at CSECProgram@dss.ca.gov. For ongoing updates and information, please subscribe to the CTRT Quarterly Newsletter .
For more information regarding TCVAP, the Refugee Resettlement Program, or other human trafficking concerns related to noncitizen survivors and refugee and immigrant communities, please contact the Asylee and Trafficking Unit at RPB@dss.ca.gov. For ongoing updates and information from the Refugee Programs Bureau (RPB), please subscribe to the RPB listserv .
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