ADVOCACY

The Modern Slavery Research Project informs legislative efforts on the issue of human trafficking, encouraging legislators to provide protections for workers in Louisiana and across the United States.

In the spring of 2014, we worked with both the state legislature and the state district attorneys to promote the "Make Escape Possible" campaign, which recommends effective, survivor-centered human trafficking legislation. The House Bill 1025 includes many of the Modern Slavery Research Project's recommendations, including the following:

• Vacate Convictions: allows people to vacate convictions for some crimes committed as a result of being trafficked, in cases of sex trafficking.

• Affirmative Defense: extends the affirmative defense for all victims of trafficking, including adults and labor trafficking victims, not just CSEC victims.

• A Dedicated Human Trafficking Court: allows districts to appoint a separate court to adjudicate more sensitively cases of trafficking.

• Debt Bondage: adds debt bondage to the definition of trafficking and explains clearly what that is.

• Coercion: adds nuance to the definition of coercion.

• Specialized Services Instead of Criminalization: indicates that anyone who is found to be a victim of trafficking should be directed toward specialized services (where available).

• Training: recommends HT training for police officers and funds it.

• Anonymity: provides anonymity/confidentiality of the identity of all people who are victims of human trafficking, not just for CSEC.

• Record-Keeping: increases record keeping requirements, mandating record-keeping regarding services provided to HT victims (without names) and reporting to DCFS and the legislature.

• Adult Referrals: requires DCFS to refer all HT cases for people over 18 to the appropriate available services.

RESOURCES

As a service to our New Orleans community, we keep an up-to-date list of

Service Providers that have specialized care for victims of human trafficking.

If you are seeking the help of service providers in your area, please visit

the National Human Trafficking Resource Center.

Shelters & Service Providers

Odyssey House Louisiana

Odyssey House Louisiana (OHL) is a nonprofit behavioral healthcare facility with an emphasis on addiction treatment. Odyssey House offers a professional, structured and caring Therapeutic Community with comprehensive services and effective support systems that enable individuals to chart new lives and return to their communities as contributing members.

louisiana Baptist Children's homes & Family Ministries

Louisiana Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries is a faith-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to serving children and families in need since 1899.

Catholic charities archdiocese of new orleans

Respecting the dignity and potential of each human person, Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans collaborates with the wider community to serve those in need.

Legal Services

Law offices of donglai yang, llc

The Law Offices of Donglai Yang, LLC, based in New Orleans, Louisiana, specialize in immigration, personal injury and general civil law.

pelton + Balducci, llc

Pelton + Balducci, LLC is a New Orleans-based law firm representing individuals exclusively in immigration legal matters. Pelton + Balducci are committed to providing excellent service to clients and to helping clients bring their talents, dynamism, and dreams to the United States.

medical professionals

Recognizing & responding to human trafficking in a healthcare context

A guide for health care professionals to recognize and respond to trafficking within their field. 

the resilience project

The Resilience Project provides pediatricians and all medical home teams with the resources they need to modify practice operations to more effectively identify, treat, and refer children and youth who have been exposed to or victimized by violence.

teachers

frederick douglass family initiatives

Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives has partnered with Mosaic Family Services to offer a history-based human trafficking prevention curriculum for use by secondary students and teachers called History, Human Rights and the Power of One. The Globalize 13 module conforms to Common Core Curriculum Standards.

psychologists

A report published by the Polaris Project that reviews five years of therapeutic support at Polaris New Jersey.

Louisiana center for children's rights

The Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights is the only nonprofit, specialized juvenile defense law office in the country.

Covenant house

For over 25 years, Covenant House New Orleans has provided a safe haven for homeless, runaway and at-risk youth ages 16-22. Located on the edge of the French Quarter, we shelter and care for neglected, abused, and exploited kids from the New Orleans area and from across the United States.

new orleans family justice center

New Orleans Family Justice Center is a partnership of agencies dedicated to ending family violence, child abuse, sexual assault, and stalking through prevention and coordinated response by providing comprehensive client-centered, empowerment services in a single location.

Ellaine carr & Associates

The team at Ellaine Carr and Associates is committed to helping clients navigate through the complex world of U.S. immigration law.

ware | gasparian

At Ware|Gasparian, immigration lawyers have been helping individuals and organizations obtain their immigration objectives since the firm's founding as David Ware & Associates in 1982. With offices in the New Orleans and Baton Rouge metro areas of Louisiana, as well as in Florida, Mississippi and Seattle, Washington, they handle only immigration law matters, providing clients with focused, efficient solutions.

heal trafficking

HEAL Trafficking is a united group of health professionals and advocates passionate about ending human trafficking and supporting its victims. Their mission is to unify and mobilize interdisciplinary professionals in combating human trafficking through a health care lens, and to serve as a centralized resource on health for the broader anti-trafficking community.

spotting the signs

Spotting the Signs is a guide developed in the United Kingdom to help health care professionals who work with young people under 18 detect child sexual exploitation (CSE) and gang-related sexual violence compiled by Dr. Karen Rogstad and Georgia Johnston.

Addressing Mental Health Needs in Survivors of Modern Slavery: A Critical Review and Research Agenda addresses the evidence on the mental health impact of enslavement, measures the efficacy of specific treatment approaches, and recommends future research priorities.

Eden House

Eden House is a two-year residential program for women who have been commercially and sexually exploited. Modeled after Magdalene House in Nashville, Tennessee, Eden House provides six to eight women a safe and supportive home for two years, free of cost.

baptist friendship house

In recognizing the worth and dignity of homeless women and children, Baptist Friendship House seeks to minister to the physical, emotional and spiritual needs, through love, action, and truth as revealed in God’s Word in Matthew 25, and 1 John 3:17-18.

Mil Mujeres

Founded in 2007, Mil Mujeres provides direct legal services in the area of immigration law to low-income Spanish-speaking survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

caring for trafficked persons

The handbook combines research, field experience and good practice into a tool for those who provide health services to trafficked persons, whether identified victims or populations which may include unidentified victims or other exploited persons. The Caring for Trafficked Persons Facilitator’s Guide have been developed for individuals who wish to carry out training to help a concerned health provider understand the phenomenon of human trafficking.