WHO IS A POTENTIAL VICTIM OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING? 

Human trafficking affects all kinds of people anywhere, in cities, suburbs, and rural areas. Although some people are bigger targets, victims can come from any background including any race, gender, social class, age, ethnicity, and immigrant status or documentation. A person younger than 18 who engages in a commercial sex act, is a victim of sex trafficking—regardless of force, lies, or threats. Traffickers target people who are trying to escape poverty or discrimination. Victims often have their documents taken away and they are forced to work until their debt is paid off.  

According to the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC):  

• 51% of identified victims of trafficking are women; 28% children and 21% men  
• 72% people exploited in the sex industry are women  
• 63% of identified traffickers are men and 37% are women  
• 43% of victims are trafficked domestically within national borders  

HOW CAN LSF HELP? 

Through Trafficking Victim Assistance Program (TVAP) in the Tampa Bay Area, LSF can provide comprehensive case management services to foreign-born victims of trafficking, derivative family members and minor children of victims of trafficking through a cooperative agreement with social agency Tapestri, the Department of Health & Human Services(HHS), Office of Trafficking in Persons (OTIP), and others. All services are free and confidential. 

HOW DOES THE PROCESS OF CASE MANAGEMENT WORK?   

Enrolled clients will receive comprehensive case management services such as:  

• Initial needs assessment, based on trauma-informed and victim-centered approaches  
• Culturally and linguistically sensitive services  
• Financial assistance  

• Assistance with basic needs (safety planning, food, clothing, transportation)  
• Linkage to shelters and housing options  
• Linkage to mental health and medical care providers  
• Referrals to legal services (immigration attorney)  
• Enrollment in public benefits and refugee programs  

• Linkage to career and employment services  

WHAT CAN I EXPECT FROM LSF STAFF?  

• LSF staff will NOT compromise victim safety  
• They respect the privacy and dignity of all clients regardless of their race, background, or belief.  
• They will ensure that consumer and client confidentiality is protected.  

• Case managers assess the needs of a client and coordinate, arrange, evaluate, monitor, and advocate for multiple services to meet the needs of human trafficking survivors.  
• They have experience assisting survivors through a network of providers throughout the country. 

To report a trafficking tip, call the
National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-3737-888
a national, toll-free hotline, available to answer calls from anywhere in the country, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year.

If you suspect someone is in immediate danger, please call 911.

IF YOU KNOW ANYONE WHO IS EXPERIENCING THE FOLLOWING, CALL 1-866-347-2423 NOW:  

• Someone who works against their will, often for little or no pay (labor trafficking); or  
• Has sex for anything of value such as money, food, shelter, clothes, or drugs (sex trafficking).  
• Someone who is not free to leave or come and go as they wish.  

• Someone who is under 18 and provides commercial sex acts.  
• Someone who is in the commercial sex industry and has a pimp or manager.  
• Someone who is unpaid, paid extraordinarily little, or paid only through tips.  
• Someone works excessively long and/or unusual hours.  
• A person who is allowed breaks or suffers under unusual restrictions at work.  

• Owes a large debt and is unable to pay it off  
• Someone who was recruited through false promises concerning the nature and conditions of his/her work  
• Someone who is held under high security measures in the work and/or living locations (e.g. opaque windows, boarded up windows, bars on windows, barbed wire, security cameras, etc.)  

ARE THERE ANY BEHAVIORS EXHIBITED BY VICTIMS?  

• They are fearful, anxious, depressed, submissive, tense, or nervous/paranoid  
• Exhibits unusually fearful or anxious behavior after bringing up law enforcement  
• They avoid eye contact.  
• Does not have access to adequate health care  
• Appears malnourished  
• They show signs of physical and/or sexual abuse, physical restraint, confinement, or torture  

• Has few or no personal possessions  
• They are not in control of their own money, no financial records, or bank account.  
• They do not in control of their own identification documents (ID or passport)  
• They are not allowed or able to speak for themselves without a third party who insists on being present and/or translating.  
• Does not know or is unable to state where he/she is staying (e.g., does not provide an address)  
• Lacks knowledge of whereabouts and/or does not know what city he/she is in  
• Has loss of a sense of time  
• Has numerous inconsistencies in their story