Transitioning Times

In December 2014, the Comprehensive Human Trafficking bill (Act 105) was passed and signed into law.  Until that time, PA was ranked 49 th of our 50 states in its response to human trafficking in the Commonwealth. In January 2015, the individuals representing interested groups throughout PA met at the Capitol to plan Act 105's implementation.  Among the groups represented were a large contingent of Philadelphia groups that included Dawn’s Place, the Philadelphia Anti-trafficking Coalition, and Covenant House.  The PA Coalition Against Rape (PCAR) had been providing education and outreach for several years, and several of committed Victim Services Organizations were represented (Transitions of PA, YWCA of Greater Harrisburg, YWCA of York, and NOVA Bucks).  The PA Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) has responsibility to implement the law, but no funding was provided. At this meeting, Shea Rhodes, the new Director of Villanova University Law School’s Cente...

As we begin to wrap up National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, I am encouraged. On January 10 th , Transitions hosted a screening of the film I am Jane Doe , at the Campus Theatre in Lewisburg. We saw over 300 people from this community come out to watch a film about child sex trafficking. ( http://www.dailyitem.com/news/local_news/campus-theatre-screens-documentary-on-sex-trafficking/article_e84d3178-6023-5452-b0e2-f071fa217f7a.html )   I still remember in high school when I would talk about trafficking with my peers, teachers, etc. and they thought I was crazy. It's wonderful to see the turn around in awareness and support of this issue. I've been rallying around this cause for 10+ years, and I watched the change in attitude. Though there is still so much to be done, this has become a topic people care about and are invested in changing. Combatting human trafficking was my passion for many years. In pursuit of that dream, I got involved with Transitions as an und...

“Human trafficking” is a phrase that often conjures images of frightened, undocumented women who have been brought to the United States while fleeing a war zone. Over the past few years, the phrase has also been connected with (now debunked) stories of well-dressed businessmen attempting to snatch young girls from their families in the middle of a crowded shopping mall. Even for those who acknowledge the prevalence of human trafficking in every city in America, few immediately associate human trafficking with the real source of most of its victims: our nation’s broken child welfare system. Roughly 98% of survivors of sex trafficking have been involved with Child Welfare services, and 75% have been in foster care.  In 2013, a nationwide operation rescued trafficking victims from across the United States, 60% of which were foster care youth who had run from care or who had aged out of the system. When we think of human trafficking, we must think of our nation’s most vulner...

               Priceless is a faith-based movie about a story of sex trafficking, aimed to bring awareness to this tragedy. The main character agrees to make a delivery in a truck to earn some money, without knowing what See was delivering. He finds out there are two young women in the back of the truck and seeks to save them from being captured and sold.                I saw this movie when it aired at the Campus Theatre back in December, and I left with mixed feelings. I am super glad people are working to bring awareness to this tragic issue, and I hope it continues. The awareness surrounding human trafficking has increased tremendously over the last several years. For pure entertainment’s sake, it was a great movie. However, as a professional working in a victims’ service field with a special interest in human trafficking, I had a couple co...

Do you really know what human trafficking is in the U.S.?  Do you know what it looks like? Do you know who the people are that sexually exploit victims and why they do this? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you need to attend the Human Trafficking Symposium being hosted by the North Central Human Trafficking Response Team Faith Committee, where these and other questions will be answered.  The symposium, Open Your Eyes: Reasons, Responsibilities, and Responses to Combat Child Sexual Exploitation Symposium for the Faith Community, will be held at two locations: Faith Wesleyan Church, 1033 Tucker Street, Williamsport, on January 27 th , and at Christ Wesleyan Church, 363 Stamm Road, Milton, on January 28 th .  This symposium will bring awareness and education to our churches, our communities, provide information regarding physical and social indicators, list the effects of complex trauma for human trafficking victims, and inform those in attendance of t...

Human trafficking is a problem that we cannot and must not ignore. The U.S. Senate’s Subcommittee on Investigations recently reported on the serious problem of online sex trafficking with a focus on Backpage.com, the leading online marketplace for commercial sex.  This worldwide website is valued at more than a half-billion dollars.  These earnings should not be surprising given that human trafficking is the second largest criminal enterprise in the world, second only to the trafficking of illegal drugs.  Once a dealer sells their drugs, more must be manufactured before additional profit can be made. A person can be trafficked over and over with little downtime, making it an attractive investment for unscrupulous people. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 73% of all child trafficking reports received from the public note connections to Backpage.com.  Backpage never denied that the site has been used for criminal activity, in...

Recently, I’ve learned about a strong connection between foster care and human trafficking that I had never really thought about before. Children who are in the system are being trafficked, sometimes by foster care parents and sometimes by others outside the home. To traffickers, these children are seen as unwanted, disposable kids, which make them a good target. They’ve often already experienced abuse, and they’re less likely to have someone come after them if they go missing.  According to “T,” (Withelma Ortiz Walker Pettigrew) a young activist who was in foster care from birth to age 18 and trafficked for 7 of those years, many foster care parents care more about the paycheck and make that known to the children in their homes. With this mentality, children quickly become used to the idea that their worth is limited, and they are only good for someone else’s monetary gain (Saar, 2014). “T” states, “The most stable relationship I had while in foster care was with my pimp and his ...

I recently came across an article that documented the finding of a chip inside a trafficking victim. This chip was used to store the victim’s name, date of birth, and other information. The device is similar to ones people use to put in their pets, in case they get lost (Love, 2016).              As someone who is passionate about trafficking survivors and ending human trafficking, I have read a lot of stories and tactics that traffickers use. I have heard about traffickers using physical or sexual harm to keep their victims under their control or even tattoos to brand their victims. This, however, was a first for me. I had never heard of a trafficker using a device like this. This shows me the absolute devaluing of a human being, for the trafficker’s gain. Not only is it possible to buy a human being for less than $90 these days, but you can also keep a chip in them with their information in case they would try to escape...

January is National Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention Month. Here at Transitions, we are involved in several aspects of working with this population. We offer services to survivors of human trafficking, provide education and outreach to the local schools and the community, and also participate in the Pennsylvania Alliance Against Trafficking in Humans (PAATH). These are just some of what we do with regard to human trafficking in this area of service. PAATH was formed as a work group, following the passage of Act 105 in the fall of 2014. This act significantly strengthened Pennsylvania’s legislation regarding human trafficking. From this statewide work group, three main committees were formed: the outreach and community awareness committee, the training committee, and the direct services committee. I personally co-represent Transitions on PAATH’s Direct Services Committee. This committee meets regularly and works to develop best practices for working with this populati...

The purpose of the Medical Advocacy Program is to support the development, implementation or enhancement of domestic violence medical advocacy projects in the Commonwealth which would assist in the implementation of domestic violence policies and procedures as well as provide training for health care workers to improve hospital, health center and clinic response to domestic violence victims seeking medical treatment. In FY 2015-2016, Transitions of PA was awarded this grant from the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV).  Our work plan includes the development and implementation of training to medical professionals in Union, Snyder and Northumberland Counties on the topics of domestic violence/interpersonal violence, human trafficking and traumatic brain injury.  Domestic violence victims who present to a medical facility must, first and foremost, be identified.  Universal screening procedures have been implemented at local medical facilities and h...

On October 5, 2015, Transitions hosted a training titled Stopping Human Trafficking in Central Pennsylvania at the Best Western Plus Country Cupboard Inn.  87 people attended, including 42 victim advocates, 16 law enforcement personnel, 13 medical professionals, 11 Children and Youth personnel, 3 prosecutors, and others.  Information was provided by Viktoria Kristiansson, Attorney Advisor for Aequitas: The Prosecutors’ Resource for Violence Against Women; Detective William Woolf with Fairfax County, Virginia; and D. Peter Johnson, Union County District Attorney.  Participants learned how to identify victims and perpetrators of human trafficking, how to successfully investigate human trafficking cases, and possible strategies at trial and sentencing.  Act 105, Pennsylvania’s human trafficking law, and new protections for victims, including Sexual Violence Protection Orders and Protection from Intimidation Orders were also reviewed.  This training was made possib...

“But it’s their choice,” you might say. Well, I’d like to tell you why buying sex from a person is degrading and criminal even if the person is “choosing” to sell sex. First off, I do not like the terms “choose” or “choice” when it comes to prostitution. More often than you might think, prostitutes are actually forced to sell sex – otherwise known as sex trafficking.  According to rapeis.org the average age of entry into “sex work” is around 13-14 for girls (Farley, n.d.).  Other sources are estimating this number even lower. Because they are under 18, not able to consent to sex, they are actually victims of sex trafficking. As a result, a lot of women, so called, “choosing to sell sex” started off in sex trafficking and this is the only life they know. In my opinion, for the others who this might not be the case, there is almost always a reason or circumstance that leads to a person choosing to sell sex for a living. I do not believe that anyone truly wants to sell hi...

January is the National Human Trafficking Awareness Month and Sunday, January 11, is the National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. What is human trafficking? It is the modern day slave trade, which is worse than it ever has been in history. According to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (n.d.), the Trafficking Victims Protections Act, defines human trafficking and sex trafficking in the following ways: “Sex trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purposes of a commercial sex act, in which the commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age, (22 USC § 7102). “Labor trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purposes of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bon...

This powerful video portrays how entry into sex trafficking can feel, as told by a survivor, GEMS founder Rachel Lloyd.

We have been posting a lot lately about human trafficking, and as more people understand what it is, there is more media coverage.  When you learn more about human trafficking, a byproduct is that you learn more about sex work.  And whether talking about sex work, sexual abuse of children, or human trafficking, pimps come up. I am appalled that people still use this word in a positive way when bragging about their own, or another man's sexual prowess.  Pimps force, that's right, FORCE people, sometimes children, into working for them, through manipulation or fear.  Consider the words you are using: That man sleeps with so many women, he is a criminal who forces children into prostitution!  Not that sexy anymore, is it?

Shyima Hall has been in the news before, for becoming a naturalized citizen in 2011.  She is currently in the news for writing her own story.  She has written a book, Hidden Girl: The True Story of a Modern-Day Child Slave.   Shyima was sold into slavery by her parents at 8 years old, approximately 2 years later, the family she was sold to smuggled her into the United States.  She lived in their garage and worked for the family, including children her own age, from morning until night, for as long as they needed her.  2 years later, a neighbor called authorities because they saw Shyima working but not going to school.  She has stayed in the United States, graduated high school, become a citizen and wishes to become a law enforcement officer. This is human trafficking .  Many people think only of sex trafficking, but human trafficking can also include anyone who is forced into performing labor or services against their will. Watch an interview w...

Did you know that January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month?  Not only has our President declared it as such, the Northumberland ,  Union , and Snyder County Commissioners have also. While unfortunately, trafficking happens every day, in the light and in the dark by known and unknown perpetrators, January is an appropriate time to think about trafficking in light of the National Football League schedule.  It has been said , by the Attorney General of Texas, that the Super Bowl is the single largest human trafficking incident .  Although this has been argued by others to be untrue, I am glad that at least the media is covering this topic.  At least people are realizing that humans are being trafficked for nefarious reasons and against their will.  Did you see the video we posted about awareness at the Final Four ?  I would agree with Rachel Lloyd that trafficking happens much more in the dark, not during publicly recognized ...

Truckers Against Trafficking (28:11) from iEmpathize on Vimeo . Human trafficking is the sale or commodification of a person and/or their labor for the benefit of another through methods of force, coercion, fraud, or if the victim is a minor.  Here's a further explanation from The Polaris Project . As defined under U.S. federal law, victims of human trafficking include children involved in the sex trade, adults age 18 or over who are coerced or deceived into commercial sex acts, and anyone forced into different forms of "labor or services," such as domestic workers held in a home, or farm-workers forced to labor against their will. The factors that each of these situations have in common are elements of force, fraud, or coercion that are used to control people.  Then, that control is tied to inducing someone into commercial sex acts, or labor or services.  Many of the outreach and prevention efforts are centered around children, but they are not the only victims...

  Transitions, the Comprehensive Victim Center for Union, Snyder and Northumberland Counties, is pleased to announce the appointment of Susan K. Mathias to the position of Chief Executive Officer.   Most recently, Susan served as a Director at the YWCA of Northcentral PA with responsibility for programs and operations for Wise Options and two HUD-funded programs for homeless women and children.  Susan holds a Masters of Public Administration and has worked for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Federal Reserve Board. Susan was Vice President of Human Resources with The JPM Company and Regional Coordinator for U.S. Congressman Chris Carney.   "I look forward to collaborations that can improve how the community supports survivors and educates young people about healthy relationships.  New developments in the domestic violence and sexual assault prevention field have shown positive res...