Freedom Network USA (FNUSA) recently released foundational documents to support the development of National Standards of Care for Anti-Trafficking Service Providers (National HT Services Standards of Care). The National HT Services Standards of Care will provide practical guidance on delivering services that are person-centered, trauma-informed, culturally responsive and evidence-informed. These service standards are essential to ensure consistent quality of services and reduce unintended harm to trafficking survivors.
To ensure an evidence-informed foundation for the National HT Services Standards of Care, FNUSA partnered with the Research Triangle Institute (RTI), an independent non-profit research institute, to develop foundational documents, including a literature review, criteria for developing National Standards of Care, and Process Guidance. The documents are available for public access through Freedom Network USA’s Resource Library.
- Literature Review: Provides a landscape analysis of the current Standards of Care, guidelines, and protocols in the anti-trafficking field in the US and globally.
- Criteria and Criteria Checklist: Establishes a four-part criterion for developing Standards of Care. These tools will ensure that all the standards drafted and developed under the project adhere to the established parameters. The checklist provides a quality check to confirm that all criteria are satisfied.
- Process Guidance: Provides a proposed process for developing the Standards of Care, acknowledging the collaborative nature of the project, which includes FNUSA, a Technical Working Group of 25 experts, and federal partners. RTI proposed an approach to approve the standards of care. The Delphi Model provides a transparent, systematic, and evidence-based process to engage experts and achieve consensus in setting standards.
Project updates and additional information will be shared in the upcoming months. For more information on the project and its efforts, please contact standards@freedomnetworkusa.org. A Standards of Care project webpage is also in development and will be available in 2024.
About the Project:
Freedom Network USA (FNUSA), the nation’s largest coalition of service providers and advocates working directly with human trafficking survivors in the United States, was competitively awarded a 3-year cooperative agreement by the Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime (OVC). FNUSA works in partnership with OVC and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) to lead the development of the Standards. FNUSA has convened a Technical Working Group, comprised of service providers, survivor leaders, and subject matter experts with diverse perspectives and expertise to co-develop the Standards of Care. The public will have opportunities to provide feedback on draft standards. More information about this multi-phase initiative can be found on the OJP Grant Awards Page.