Providing a safe place

According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, the portion of Interstate 20 between Atlanta and Birmingham has the highest incident rate of human sex trafficking in the U.S., especially when it comes to victims ages 12 to 14.

“It’s most prevalent in the Southeast. … Instead of being an area that is known for this [human trafficking] issue or problem, I’m hoping we are going to become known for being the first place to have a solution,” Sara Gould, from the Department of Emergency Medicine at UAB, said. 

Gould is one of the frontrunners working to create a trauma center at UAB for minors affected by sexual exploitation. In the summer of 2019, the hospital hopes to raise enough funds to provide a comprehensive care center that works to address the complex needs of victims and, ultimately, to change the cycle of abuse among victims who are often circulated back into sex trafficking due to the lack of comprehensive care.

Julia Myers, member of the Junior League of Birmingham Board who is leading the efforts to bring awareness to human trafficking in the city, said it is estimated that 40 percent of all trafficking in the U.S. occurs in the Southeast. Many of those victims, she said, are minors.

“Right now, the biggest issue is when minors are recovered, the only option for them is to place them into foster case, so that’s really not a good solution to take someone like that in,” Myers said. They might be addicted to drugs or believe their pimps’ brainwashing attempts, and the lives of families could even be threatened. Oftentimes, they feel like the only option is to run back to those who trafficked them, she said. 

“We realized that we needed to have a facility for kids,” Myers said.

Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery and involves the use of force, fraud or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Minors under the age of 18 engaging in commercial sex acts are considered victims of human trafficking regardless of force, fraud or coercion.

“DHR is so excited because [this care unit] will give them time. They’re not having to immediately place them into foster care, they can actually have a little bit of time to do some homework and some research,” Myers said.

After Gould looked at how UAB was currently interacting with sex trafficking victims who are minors, she formed a task force in 2018 and determined that UAB would create a specific place where victims go to be screened and provided with intensive patient stabilization through a comprehensive care unit, providing services for a spectrum of needs all in the same area of the hospital.

After anywhere from a couple of days to a week or more, patients will be released to a sex trafficking rehabilitation center like the WellHouse, foster care or a relative’s home. Having stabilization days to be treated in the hospital, Myers said, along with a more careful follow-up in the rehabilitation plan, could make a huge difference in the ability to stop the cycle of abuse. 

“We are really lucky to be at UAB because we have so many super sub-specialized entities,” Gould said. “There is a lot of sexual trauma; pregnancy, of course, is an issue. Drugs and alcohol are very intermingled in this environment. A lot of the children are drugged into compliance at least initially, and then there can be addiction issues that are very pervasive.”

Since UAB has specialists who deal with each one of those conditions, Gould said, they are pulling them together to provide the best care all at once. In the comprehensive care unit, minors will be treated through the acute adolescent psychiatric services and inpatient unit to begin the path to recovery. 

Specialists will focus on support for addiction medicine, drug detoxification, trauma-focused therapy, gynecologic or obstetric care and social services support. Licensed therapists will also offer pet therapy, music therapy, exercise and recreational therapy and other individualized treatments. 

“It’s really neat because there’s a lot of different people working on it to get as much going as we can for all of these victims,” Gould said. “[UAB] has been working on it for at least a year.”

An important part of the program also includes training of health care professionals to be better able to identify victims of sex trafficking.

Gould said the main goals in the unit are to properly screen victims for access to care; to give a multifaceted care approach to rehabilitation and stabilization; to deliver community outreach and education to law enforcements and emergency units; and to advocate to expand protections for adolescents and bridge the gap in services nationally.

The Wellhouse Executive Director Carolyn Potter said the majority of women they see were first exploited as children, which makes them especially vulnerable to a trafficker attempting to lure or force them into prostitution. 

“We have a real problem with not just the police officers but society in general not understanding if someone is ‘choosing to be a prostitute’ or ‘choosing this lifestyle,’ they probably really aren’t choosing this lifestyle. There’s probably someone forcing into them into it,” Myers said.

In the last year, Myers has worked with the Junior League of Birmingham and other organizations to partner with the Alabama Human Trafficking Task Force to bring more awareness about human and child sex trafficking to Birmingham and across the state. 

So far, they have organized a truck stop campaign, where permanent educational posters are put in truck stop bathrooms; offered free hotel and motel training on identifying sex trafficking; and trained every member of the Birmingham Police Department on common misconceptions of trafficking and how to help victims.

“In my opinion, I think it’s going to take a while. I think people still have their same mentalities and trying to train their perceptions is difficult, but this is a huge step in the right direction,” Myers said, adding that they hope to train officers from other counties.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Carla Ward said the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Department of Justice are also working on helping people be “more aware of and better able to perceive and identify victims and survivors of human trafficking.”

Ward added that prosecuting cases of human trafficking tend to be extremely difficult because victims are often afraid of repercussions and not in a place where they feel comfortable coming forward to testify. Ward said there are few cases that go through the court system, so they are trying to make working with law enforcement easier through officer education on how to identify, interact and assist people trying to escape human trafficking.

“The Birmingham Police Department has done a great job. We assist [them] in a monthly training of all new cadets and then police officers from all across the state are brought in,” Ward said. 

Jack Hood, the president for the Arthur D. Shores-Robert S. Vance American Inn of Court, said after research about human trafficking, he made it his goal to educate the public. He drafted a civil complaint, authorized under a special code section of Alabama law, which allows victims to file complaints against traffickers and attempt to recover damages and injunctive relief. 

“I think the biggest thing [people can do] is to become aware of what the problem is and how pervasive it is and to become aware and to speak to your family members about the dangers that are lurking out there,” Hood said.

A $2 million fundraising initiative is underway for the comprehensive care unit, which will provide for the hiring of a licensed therapist with trauma expertise, an assistance fund for the care of victims ineligible for Medicaid and an endowment to provide for the unit’s operational expenses over time.

Gould said she hoped to reach that fundraising goal as soon as possible.

When UAB hires a clinical coordinator and social worker for the comprehensive care unit, Gould said, the hospital is excited to also offer “wraparound care” for victims, which means that minors will work with the same people throughout their treatment to provide stability and follow them through the process until they are placed in outpatient services. 

“Every day, I feel like I find someone else who is working on this issue. Every day, we are getting closer and closer. I’m hoping by the summer we will hear back about several grants, and once we have enough funding to hire a coordinator, that’s when I see this really getting off the ground,” Gould said. 

UAB is a Medicaid facility, which Gould said covers emergency visits of human trafficking victims. The new facility will only care for minors, Gould said, although they hope to create one for adult victims in the future. 

Currently, they have funds that have been donated through the Rescue Innocence Project Gala, which raises money and awareness annually for those affected by sexual exploitation and trafficking. Gould said they also applied to several private grants they are waiting to hear back from, and they hope to continue to expand their funds from public and private grants and resources. 

Call the national human trafficking hotline at 1-888-373-7888 and learn more information about signs of trafficking and how to report suspected trafficking here.