Covenant House New Jersey (CHNJ) is on the front lines against human trafficking every day. July 30th is the United Nations’ designated World Day Against Trafficking in Persons and we continue to take action. Trafficking is an issue that is being confronted right here in New Jersey and we are front and center in those efforts.
What is human trafficking? Human trafficking encompasses both sex trafficking (using force, fraud, or coercion for sexual exploitation of an individual age 18 or older, or any commercial sex exploitation of a child) and labor trafficking (using force or fraud to induce someone to work).
Since Fall 2020, the State of New Jersey has designated CHNJ to be the lead organization to coordinate care for trafficking victims of all ages. Since then we have provided services to over 300 survivors of human trafficking.
Through CHART (Covenant House Action Research Tank) we are improving the quality of care for survivors not only here in NJ, but throughout North America.
Here are a few highlights:
- We have developed QYIT (Quick Youth Indicators for Trafficking) which provides an easily administered 4 question test to screen for lifetime experiences of sex and labor trafficking. View more on QYIT in this video.
- We are rolling out QYIT across North America, by providing training to Covenant House sites, as well as to other trafficking victim support sites.
- In 2021, we were one of the lead organizations to coordinate care for 108 victims in an FBI action in Central New Jersey.
We’re proud of the life changing work we are doing to improve the quality of care for survivors of human trafficking throughout North America. We are also incredibly thankful for the continuing support of all of you, the CHNJ community.