Medical-Legal Collaboration and Community Partnerships: Prioritizing Prevention of Human Trafficking in Federally Qualified Health Centers

Human trafficking (HT) is increasingly recognized as a public health issue, and its severe consequences affect some of society’s most vulnerable members. Prioritizing prevention is a critical component of a public health framework when addressing HT, and the health care delivery system plays a crucial role in operationalizing primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention interventions. As a significant part of the primary care system in the U.S., Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) are uniquely positioned to be the first point of contact with the health care system for people at risk for and affected by HT. FQHCs provide many preventive services, health education programs, and community outreach initiatives; therefore, FQHCs have a great reach into the populations at risk of and affected by HT. Furthermore, FQHCs recognize the importance of leveraging legal expertise and services to address their communities’ health-related social needs. There are many models for medical legal collaboration, including formal co-located medical–legal partnerships, as well as broader, community-based relationships. This Article will discuss types of medical–legal efforts and highlight individual patient and organizational case studies from Banteay Srei (a youth development program for Southeast Asian young women and girls at risk of commercial sexual exploitation, a program of Asian Health Services (AHS), an FQHC in Oakland, California). Finally, there will be a discussion about the intersection of HT with intimate partner violence (IPV), and how community partnerships and legal partnerships have played an important role in prevention efforts, with an organizational case study from Futures Without Violence, a national nonprofit providing training, technical assistance, and policy advocacy across the country for violence prevention

Medical-Legal Collaboration and Community Partnerships: Prioritizing Prevention of Human Trafficking in Federally Qualified Health Centers

Human trafficking (HT) is increasingly recognized as a public health issue, and its severe consequences affect some of society’s most vulnerable members. Prioritizing prevention is a critical component of a public health framework when addressing HT, and the health care delivery system plays a crucial role in operationalizing primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention interventions. As a significant part of the primary care system in the U.S., Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) are uniquely positioned to be the first point of contact with the health care system for people at risk for and affected by HT. FQHCs provide many preventive services, health education programs, and community outreach initiatives; therefore, FQHCs have a great reach into the populations at risk of and affected by HT. Furthermore, FQHCs recognize the importance of leveraging legal expertise and services to address their communities’ health-related social needs. There are many models for medical legal collaboration, including formal co-located medical–legal partnerships, as well as broader, community-based relationships. This Article will discuss types of medical–legal efforts and highlight individual patient and organizational case studies from Banteay Srei (a youth development program for Southeast Asian young women and girls at risk of commercial sexual exploitation, a program of Asian Health Services (AHS), an FQHC in Oakland, California). Finally, there will be a discussion about the intersection of HT with intimate partner violence (IPV), and how community partnerships and legal partnerships have played an important role in prevention efforts, with an organizational case study from Futures Without Violence, a national nonprofit providing training, technical assistance, and policy advocacy across the country for violence prevention

Cross-sector collaboration in Project Catalyst: Creating state partnerships to address the health impact of intimate partner violence

Intimate Partner Violence and Human Trafficking are major public health problems with myriad health and social consequences. This paper describes a federal initiative in the United States to formalize cross-sector collaborations at the state-level and encourage practice and policy changes intended to promote prevention and improve health and safety outcomes for Intimate Partner Violence/Human Trafficking (IPV/HT) survivors.Project Catalyst Phases I and II (2017–2019) engaged six state leadership teams, consisting of leaders from each state’s Primary Care Association, Department of Health, and Domestic Violence Coalition. Leadership teams received training and funding to disseminate information on trauma-informed practices to health centers and integrate IPV/HT considerations into state-level initiatives. At the beginning and end of Project Catalyst, participants completed surveys assessing the status of their collaboration and project goals (e.g., number of state initiatives involving IPV/HT, number of people trained).All domains of collaboration increased from baseline to project end. Largest improvements were seen in ‘Communication’ and ‘Process & Structure,’ both of which increased by more than 20% over the course of the project. ‘Purpose’ and ‘Membership Characteristics’ increased by 10% and 13%, respectively. Total collaboration scores increased 17% overall. Each state made substantial efforts to integrate and improve responses to IPV/HT in community health centers and domestic violence programs, and integrated IPV/HT response into state-level initiatives.Project Catalyst was successful in facilitating formalized collaborations within state leadership teams, contributing to practice and policy changes intended to improve health and safety for IPV/HT survivors