2023 Anti-Trafficking Conference Program
PREVENTION
The Connection Between Trauma, Substance Use and Commercial Sexual Exploitation
Dawn Ferrer | Executive Director, A Safe Place
Dawn Ferrer is Executive Director at A Safe Place, a non-profit in Wilmington, NC where she created a 12-bed emergency shelter specifically designed for trafficking victims and their children, and designed a 10-week after-school program for vulnerable girls aged 11-14 called EmpoweredMe! to link them with mentors and build self-esteem. She is also the primary human trafficking trainer for Trillium Health Resources where she instructs law enforcement, EMS and fire officials on how to identify and help victims using a trauma-informed, person-centered approach. In this presentation, Ms. Ferrer will provide an in-depth overview of sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation and the correlation with trauma and substance use. She will discuss victimology, childhood trauma and Adverse Childhood Events (ACEs), substance use before and after trafficking, trauma-informed language in crisis response and how changing perceptions can decrease stigma toward survivors. Participants will have a better understanding of survivors, their experiences and behaviors and how their vulnerabilities led them down the path to exploitation.
Why Men Matter in Human Trafficking: How Focusing on Men Can Reduce Demand and Supply for Human Trafficking
Jeff Rush | Ph.D., Public Administration | M.S., Criminal Justice |
MA, Educational Leadership
Jeff Rush has over 40 years of experience as a law enforcement officer, juvenile probation officer, and private security officer. Retired from 30 years of full-time teaching, he is an adjunct professor and continues to serve in law enforcement as an Alabama Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission Deputy Sheriff. He is a trainer for the Child Trafficking Solutions Project and a former board member, and past Chairman of the Board of the Faith Based Security Network (FBSN), the immediate past chairman of the Police Section, and a board member of the Security and Crime Prevention Section at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. In this presentation, Dr. Rush will discuss how human trafficking is built on the economic theory of supply and demand. Buyers make the commercial sex market profitable, and focusing on the demand – men – can reduce the supply.
Social Media and the Impact on the Meteoric Rise of Human Trafficking in America
Judith Paparozzi, Esq. | Professor at University of North Carolina, Pembroke
Judith Paparozzi has 30+ years of experience in various aspects of the criminal justice system, including as a parole board hearing and appeals officer, assistant county prosecutor specializing in narcotics cases, a prosecutor in the superior and municipal courts of New Jersey, criminal defense attorney and public defender. She now teaches criminal law, criminal justice, and human trafficking courses at UNC Pembroke. In 2017 and 20221, she received UNC Pembroke’s Outstanding Teaching Award for her work in human trafficking. In this presentation, Ms. Paparozzi will discuss the role social media plays in the spread of human trafficking, how predators use to their advantage the fact that young people on social media are looking for validation in order to scout their victims and manipulate them behind a veil of anonymity, and what parents can do to protect their children from this fast-growing and lucrative crime.
The Deadly Intersection Between Human Trafficking and the Opioid Crisis
Barbara Amaya | Advocate, Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Trainer, Author | Director of Survivor Leadership at Anti-Trafficking International
Barbara Amaya is a survivor leader and has dedicated her life to combating human trafficking and violence against women and children. She holds a background in education, a credential in early childhood development, and a Ph.D. in psychology. Barbara has been actively raising awareness of the sexual exploitation of children and domestic sex trafficking since 2012. She is the author of the award-winning memoir Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Lost Innocence, Modern Day Slavery and Transformation, which describes her experiences as a teen on the streets of New York City as a victim of domestic minor sex trafficking and exploitation, and her eventual escape. Ms. Amaya provides training to law enforcement, health care professionals, teachers, and counselors on how to interact and interview victims in a trauma-informed manner. She received the James B. Hunter Human Rights Award in 2014 and the ATI Survivor Leadership Award in 2021. Ms. Amaya will discuss how traffickers often use drugs and addition as tools to control and manipulate victims. This presentation is tailored for medical experts, first responders, parents, teachers, substance abuse counselors, and community leaders who want to understand what human trafficking survivors experience, and how to spot someone who is being trafficked while struggling with addiction.
Sex Trafficking: A Culture of Commodification from a Biblical Worldview
Alcinda Hatfield | Colson Fellow and Community Ambassador, Anti-Trafficking International
Alcinda Hatfield is dedicated to protecting young people through anti-human trafficking awareness and prevention programs for students and parents. Over the last two decades, she has mentored hundreds of children through volunteer programs in faith-based and secular organizations, as well as through educational programs at her farm in Virginia. In this presentation, Ms. Hatfield advocates for prevention programs rooted in a biblical worldview. She discusses sexual exploitation, its resulting harms, and ways to safeguard youth from skilled traffickers and protect families in today’s secular culture of hyper sexualized commodification, where it is easy strip human beings of dignity and to regard them as objects to be used, traded, and discarded.
PROTECTION
Pregnant and Parenting Needs of Trafficking Survivors
Dr. M. Elizabeth Bowman, PhD, LICSW, LCSW-C | Assistant Professor of Social Work at Gallaudet University | Founder and Executive Director of Restoring Ivy Collective
Dr. Elizabeth Bowman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work at Gallaudet University. She is also a minor domestic sex trafficking survivor, anti-trafficking advocate, researcher, and clinician. Her research areas include the intersection of child welfare and sex trafficking, especially for special populations such as LGBT and deaf youth and those in foster care. She is the founder and executive director of the Restoring Ivy Collective in Washington, D.C., a survivor-led organization that provides referrals, outreach, group therapy, and support to survivors of sex trafficking. In this presentation, Dr. Bowman will discuss challenges faced by survivors who are parents and/or pregnant, resiliency factors of survivors, and how to best support them as service providers. For survivors of sex trafficking, pregnancy and parenting come with additional challenges of trauma, economic hardships, support deficits, and social stigma. Pregnancy is often a catalyst for leaving the life or finding means of escaping exploitation, but social support is necessary for success in finding a life outside of sex work.
Trauma and the Brain-Body Connection
Katherine Welch, M.D. | Medical Director for Global Health Promise
Dr. Welch has been serving oppressed, trafficked, and exploited people since 2000. In 2011, Dr. Welch founded RELENTLESS and travels globally as a consultant to counter-trafficking assistance programs in developing a more robust and trauma-informed health component to interventions. She equips health care professionals to leverage their skills in the fight against slavery. Dr. Welch also provides direct care to those who are suffering from physical and mental health consequences due to chronic trauma. She has served as a member of the International Organization for Migration/UNGIFT expert panel on health, which produced Caring for Trafficked Persons, Guidance for Health Providers. She is a member of the European Freedom Network, World Freedom Network, and Medical Director for Global Health Promise. In this presentation, Dr. Welch will discuss some of the natural processes that function to protect us in times of adversity but that can become maladaptive, producing some of the mental and physical signs and symptoms seen in survivors of abuse and trafficking. She will also discuss ways that our brains are pliable and how they can adapt to new environments - and how we can help survivors thrive.
A Survivor Parent’s Journey
Carolyn Kinkoph, MBA | Doctoral Candidate in Urban Studies and Public Affairs, Cleveland State University
Victimization is often hidden in plain sight, as underscored by Carolyn Kinkoph's struggle to recognize and understand her daughter’s trafficking plight. Courtney appeared to be a high-functioning 29-year-old woman, but she often denied victimization, hid mental health symptoms, and lacked awareness of her own psychiatric and substance use disorders. The failure of several safety-net systems resulted in her death in February 2022. A timeline provides insight into Courtney’s victimization that led to countless encounters with providers and various law enforcement agencies. Ms. Kinkoph shares her story of being a mother and advocate for her daughter, Courtney, and reinforces the need to break silos, coordinate efforts within and across systems, and build a multidisciplinary team to support victims and their families with trauma-informed comprehensive care.
Fostering Survivor Resiliency through Ethical Storytelling and Empowering Voice
Alicia Ley, Program Coordinator | Collaborative to End Human Trafficking
Alicia Ley currently serves the Collaborative to End Human Trafficking in Ohio as a Program Coordinator where she leads their Survivor Advisory Council. She is fervent about bringing survivors and allies together in order to provide empowering solutions in the fight against human trafficking. Alicia has spent many years advocating and building holistic, trauma- informed programing to support survivors as they journey through healing. In this presentation, Ms. Ley discusses how stories are a powerful force that create meaning and help shape our perspective of the world around us. Victim organizations across various disciplines utilize stories to inspire, educate, and share their impact. Ethical storytelling recognizes that it not only matters that stories are shared, it matters how they are shared. The ability to tell stories with an empowered survivor voice can impact both victim and organizational resiliency. Ms. Ley will explore what Ethical Storytelling is and why it matters, provide practical tips for moving beyond sensationalism, and discuss how to empower survivor voices while steering clear of the pitfalls of re-victimization.
How to Scale Your Safe House Programming to Expand Community Impact and Establish Holistic Metrics for Long-Term Survivor Success
Dee Coleman | Executive Director of Samaritan Village
Dee Coleman is the Executive Director of Samaritan Village, a safe home and therapeutic program for adult survivors of sex trafficking, and one of the only long-term residential programs for survivors in Central Florida. Samaritan Village partners with churches, local businesses, and community groups, and educates the community about the issue of human trafficking. Ms. Colman is the Co-Chair of the Orlando Human Trafficking Faith Alliance, a member of the Central Florida Human Trafficking Task Force, and Advisory Council member of S.A.F.E. in Central Florida. She is a recipient of the 2019 Florida Department of Health in Orange County Public Health Heroes Award, a 2019 recipient of the Central Florida Victims Services Network Award and a graduate of Lifework Leadership.
Schellie Fanfan | Clinical Director of Samaritan Village
Schellie Fanfan is the Clinical Director of Samaritan Village, where she oversees the trauma-informed clinical programming needed to bring participants from surviving to thriving. Ms. Fanfan is committed to impacting her community by actively serving as Board Chairwoman for the House of Hope Orlando, Parliamentarian for the Greater Haitian American Chamber of Commerce, immediate past Florida State Parliamentarian for the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Board Member for the CEO CHICKS Institute for aspiring teen entrepreneurs and as an advocate against human sex trafficking.
In this presentation, Ms. Coleman and Ms. Fanfan will share their experiences managing Samaritan Village and in particular how to scale programming to maximize impact within their community, and finally how to establish metrics to measure long-term survivor success.
PROSECUTION
Beyond the Criminal Case: Holistic Solutions for Human Trafficking Survivors Through Attorney and Social Worker Partnerships
Allison Neal | Managing Attorney at the Texas Advocacy Project
Ms. Neal attended Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to working at TAP, she was a staff attorney, then legal director of the ACLU of Alabama. She has been with the Texas Advocacy Project since February 2019 and assists victims of domestic violence with family law related matters such as protective orders, custody issues, and divorces. In April 2021, Ms. Neal was awarded the James B. Sales Boots on the Ground Award, which is awarded to a pro bono attorney who donates time and talent to provide legal help to those who have no voice.
Amanda Elkanick Oder | Vice President of Advocacy and Outreach, Texas Advocacy Project
Amanda Elkanick Oder has been working in the non-profit sector for the past 16 years helping survivors of intimate partner violence, sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking, and child abuse. She was the Program Director at SAAFE House, a policy analyst at the Texas Council on Family Violence, and Survivor Services and Training Director at the Texas Advocacy Project before becoming Vice President of Outreach and Advocacy. Ms. Oder is the author of Protective Orders in Texas: A Statewide Study of Policies and Practices.
Victims of human trafficking have many unique needs when compared to victims of other forms of power-based abuse. In this presentation, Ms. Neal and Ms. Oder will take a deep dive into the dynamics of this civil rights issue, and will introduce available civil legal remedies that provide relief and freedom for human trafficking victims. They will also discuss innovative ways to bring together attorneys and social workers to more successfully support survivors through trauma-informed services and care plans.
Current trends of Human Trafficking in Africa and the Role Of Law Enforcement Agencies in the Fight Against It
Michael Brako | Ghanaian Law Enforcement Officer | Economic and Organized Crime Office Anti-Human Trafficking Unit
Michael Brako is a Ghanaian law enforcement officer who works as an investigator at the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO). He is currently pursuing a Master of Arts Degree in Conflict, Peace and Security at the Kofi Annan International Peace Training Institute in Accra-Ghana. He has undergone trainings and workshops with Expertise France, the UK Border Force, Investigation Judicial in Costa Rica, the Kofi Annan International peacekeeping training Center, The UK Immigration Enforcement, International Justice Mission and The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection. He is the author of Security Paradigms in Africa and Beyond. His interest areas are investigating organised crime, intelligence gathering, preventing border trafficking and prosecuting perpetrators of human trafficking. In this webinar, Mr. Brako will discuss the role of law enforcement in the fight to end human trafficking, as well as touch on various topics relating to human trafficking in Sub-Saharan Africa, such as women who are trafficked to Gulf countries as domestic servants, and the rise in digital human trafficking, wherein Nigerians are recruited and brought to Ghana to commit cybercriminal activities.
Combating Human Trafficking in India
Manoj Gurani | Human Rights Activist and Anti-Trafficking Specialist
Formerly of International Justice Mission | Justice and Care, Mumbai, India
Manoj Gurani’s mission is to form a society where modern slavery no longer exists. In 2004 he joined International Justice Mission in Mumbai, India as an undercover agent and during his 20 year career working with various anti-trafficking organizations, also including Justice and Care, he has helped to rescue 5,000+ lives and supported over 50 court cases. He is now working to create a union of professionals and grass roots organizations to offer hope and assistance to this vulnerable population. Traffickers in India trick families into giving up their young girls or take advantage of vulnerable young women by promising them proper jobs, but they are instead forced into prostitution. Mr. Gurani will talk about his work as an anti-human trafficking advocate in India, from community intervention, to working with police and state officials to uncover victims of trafficking. He will also discuss working within the legal system to bring justice to survivors and hold the criminal networks accountable, what needs to be done to ensure survivors have the support they need to rebuild their lives, and finally his mission to provide systemic change to eradicate human trafficking entirely.
Proactive Approach to Hotel/Motel Human Trafficking Centers
Anthony Policandriotes | Deputy Sherriff, Retired
Anthony Policandriotes is a highly experienced law enforcement officer with 30 years of service to the Will County Sherriff’s Department. His expertise includes major crimes investigation such as homicide and kidnapping, hostage negotiation, and electronic surveillance. He was tasked to the Chicago Field Division of the DEA, where he surveilled drug cartel members in the Greater Chicagoland area. In this presentation, Mr. Policandriotes outlines how inexpensive hotels and motels can become a haven for drugs and human trafficking and other crimes and that it is often difficult to determine if the hotel or motel owner is aware of or is complicit in the aforementioned crimes. Traditional law enforcement techniques are constrained due to difficulties with surveillance and witness cooperation. An alternative to standard investigative techniques is a proactive “street theater” approach. Mr. Policandriotes will describe a case study in which he and other team members, in close cooperation with local prosecutors, used unconventional undercover law enforcement strategies to show that a motel owner and other staff were aware of the human trafficking and drug crimes being committed on their property and that they financially benefited from them. This allowed authorities to hold them accountable and to effectively end the activity.