(FY16, FY19, AND FY22)

Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention and the University of Maryland School of Social Work Prevention of Adolescent Risk Initiative (PARI) team

The Maryland Human Trafficking Initiative for Children and Youth

The University of Maryland School of Social Work PARI team was awarded FY16 and FY19 Improving Outcomes grants. In FY22, the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention and the University of Maryland School of Social Work Prevention of Adolescent Risk Initiative (PARI) team were awarded an Improving Outcomes grant. Maryland outlined the following systems-level barriers to identifying and assisting child and youth victims of sex and labor trafficking: absence of a coordinated response to labor trafficking, incongruent human trafficking response training approaches, and a need for improved support and training for child advocacy centers’ efforts to address youth and minor trafficking.

Through FY22 funding, Maryland hopes to build on their prior success through a new partnership between the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention and the University of Maryland School of Social Work Prevention of Adolescent Risk Initiative (PARI) team.

Overall, the goal of their previous (FY16 and FY19) and current (FY22) projects are to improve outcomes for child and youth victims of trafficking (up to age 24) in Maryland. More specifically, their project aims to develop a statewide strategy that leverages existing victim services, child welfare, and juvenile services’ efforts against human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. The goals are based, in part, on recommendations for addressing trafficking in the state from the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force, as well as on guidance from state and local attorneys general offices, local task forces and coalitions, and the Maryland Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention. The project directly involves and leverages these agencies as well as existing victim assistance, law enforcement, child welfare efforts throughout the state, and allied partners including Healthy Teen Network, Maryland Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and other local victim service providers and youth-serving agencies.