HEAL Trafficking and Hope for Justice’s Protocol Toolkit

HEAL Trafficking and Hope for Justice’s Protocol Toolkit for Developing a Response to Victims of Human Trafficking in Health Care Settings

To receive a copy of the Protocol Toolkit, please complete this form. Once you submit the form, you will see a confirmation message with a link to view and download the toolkit PDF.

This systems toolkit is designed to help professionals working in health care settings such as emergency departments, hospitals, clinics, private offices, or school based health centers develop a protocol to respond to potential victims of human trafficking who present to their facility. The toolkit presents an ambitious, comprehensive approach to protocol development, portions of which may be adopted for particular contexts based on capacity. The document is based on existing guidelines and recommendations from experts in this field.

The toolkit serves to mobilize an interdisciplinary response to human trafficking that respects patient autonomy. While ultimately we hope that the implementation of anti-trafficking protocols at the local level will enable the identification of victims of labor and sex trafficking so that they may be brought to safety, the goal of protocol implementation in health care settings is not to foster disclosure by trafficked persons. Rather, we aim to guide health care facilities through the process of creating safe procedures and spaces where professionals can provide exploited adults and minors not only the health services they need, but also education about their options and empowerment to seek assistance.

Do you need help developing human trafficking recognition and response protocols at your health system/organization? HEAL offers customized technical assistance services for organizations looking to strengthen their response to trafficking. Please fill out this form to request a technical assistance consultancy. Contact us at info@healtrafficking.org with your questions and feedback.