For well over a year, The UK government has been putting unaccompanied minors in hotels. Our colleagues at Love146 UK have been outspoken and advocating to raise alarms about the risks to these young people. Last week, it was reported that 136 children had gone missing – and 79 remain unaccounted for. In a powerful and important interview of Love146UK’s Senior Social Worker by journalist Owen Jones, we hear how this happened.

Love146 U.S. Survivor Care Director Tamarra Clark, sat down with Connecticut's FOX61 to discuss what child trafficking is, and what to look out for. She also shared how trafficking does not only happen in dense areas: "trafficking happens everywhere. We serve youth all over the entire state - rural areas, in the suburbs, in the cities." In our US Survivor Care, we come alongside trafficked children, remaining a constant support and relentlessly advocating for them.

We recently sat down with some members of the Love146 Prevention Team, and asked them 5 questions:
1. What’s a common misunderstanding about child trafficking?
2. What’s the difference between prevention and awareness?
3. What puts kids at risk of trafficking and what protects them?
4. Are some children at higher risk than others?
5. What advice do you have for parents and caregivers of youth?

Last week, the Department of Justice’s Officer for Victims of Crime (OVC) celebrated the 20th anniversary of their anti-trafficking efforts. OVC has been an important partner in making Love146’s work possible over the years, and we were honored to give remarks about their transformation and impact. From the Love146 team, Erin Williamson shared that “as we’ve worked with OVC over the years, we’ve seen the anti-trafficking field taking a more nuanced approach, which balances criminal justice and public health,” and Tamarra Clark shared that we’re seeing “a growing recognition of the importance of data collection and moving towards evidence based programming.”

As part of their ongoing evaluation of Love146’s Survivor Care Program, the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center, recently authored “Flexibility and Consistency”: Qualitative Insights on Valuable Skills for Providers Working with Survivors of Child Sex Trafficking.” Based on interviews with Love146’s Survivor Care staff, evaluators found that inorder to engage and meet the needs of trafficked youth providers should: 1) use a trauma-informed approach; 2) build trustworthiness; and 3) be patient, flexible, and persistent. Committed to moving the anti-trafficking field forward, Love146 is proud to share our lessons learned through this research and evaluation.