A report released by the Ohio Trafficking in Persons Study Commission and its chairman, Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, shows that the estimated thousands of human trafficking victims in Ohio have few places to turn for assistance.
"This is the third research report that our commission has released in the past six months," said Cordray. "The picture that we are painting is pretty clear: Ohio has much work left to do to clean up human trafficking. However, in the past few months we have made great strides. In February, we began to document the scope of the problem. In April, we took the first step to strengthen Ohio's law and today's report concentrates on victim services."
In January, the Victim Services and Safe Locations Sub-committee surveyed 138 victim service agencies throughout the state to determine awareness of human trafficking, availability of services and obstacles to offering services to trafficking victims. Their report includes these findings:
- An estimated 1,861 foreign-born persons and domestic youth are trafficked over the course of a year in Ohio, but only 118 cases identified as human trafficking and helped by service providers.
- In Ohio, only five agencies report providing services to assist victims of human trafficking.
- Obstacles in providing service include inadequate funding, a lack of training and inability to identify victims.
Additionally, the sub-committee identified cases involving Ohio victims of trafficking who were denied service:
- A 14-year old girl from a rural county in Ohio befriended a 28-year old man who trafficked her in a nearby city. Police caught the girl in a motel with another older man and arrested her for violating curfew. She was placed in juvenile detention, while neither man faced charges. The teen, who was handcuffed and shackled, met with a human trafficking advocate. Despite attempts to find the teen a therapeutic program or foster care, the advocate was unable to help. The girl disappeared upon release from detention.
- A 24-year-old woman was transported to a small community in Ohio from Guatemala by a man who promised marriage. While initially willing, the woman would later become a domestic servant rather than a wife. She was forced to take care of his children and home under threats of deportation. Eventually the woman escaped to a domestic violence shelter. However, without specific services to meet her needs, she returned to the trafficker.
"These stories—and there are thousands out there—are tragic," said Cordray. "Each case represents a failure in our system. As a result, I strongly urge local law enforcement and victim advocates to work in tandem with our program to confront modern slavery. We are all out of excuses."
The subcommittee made the following recommendations:
- Build local anti-trafficking coalitions across the state to improve local capacity to identify and respond to victims.
- Provide human trafficking training to all of the major social services systems and networks in the state.
- Build capacity for emergency response and comprehensive case management in all five geographic areas of the state.
- Develop a trafficking-specific, trauma-sensitive residential program.
- Increase the number of trafficking and trauma-trained therapists and attorneys available to meet the needs of victims.
To view the report in full, please visit www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/TraffickingVictimServices.
To read the commission's April report on proposed legal changes, please visit www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/TraffickingLegalProposal.
To read the commission's February report quantifying the statewide problem of trafficking, visit www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/TraffickingReport.
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