WestEd’s Health and Justice Program is conducting an evaluation of outcomes for certain youth victims of human trafficking who receive services from pilot programs in California.
The evaluation aims to increase understanding of what works to improve outcomes for these youth, identifying effective practices among state and local agencies and key stakeholders, and focusing on how to implement effective practices throughout California.
The pilot programs being evaluated serve non–system-involved youth victims of trafficking. Non–system-involved youth are youth who do not have contact with the juvenile justice system, foster care system, or any other similar systems or agencies. The project aims to address the following system-level challenges:
- Need for strengthened collaboration between systems and sectors
- Need for training, such as for identifying child and youth victims of human trafficking
- Need for improved, coordinated responses to serve these victims
- Lack of effective placement for identified victims
- Absence of meaningful evaluation and outcome measures to drive successful programs for these victims
WestEd’s two-year evaluation addresses how much is being done for these youth, how well the services are being provided, and whether the youth are better off as a result.