Improving Outcomes for Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Victims: A Phased Evaluation of the LOVE146 Victim Services Program, Connecticut, 2016-2021 (ICPSR 39100)

Version Date: Nov 7, 2024

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Principal Investigator(s):
Lisa M. Jones, University of New Hampshire

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR39100.v1

Version V1

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Summary

This study analyzed client data from Love146, a non-profit organization that serves youth known or suspected of experiencing commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) victimization. All youth in the state of Connecticut referred to Love 146 receive a brief one-time Rapid Response intervention. A subset of these youth are then referred for Long-Term Services (LTS), intensive year-long clinical and support services. This study examines the trauma histories, service trajectories, and service outcomes for 455 youth referred to Love 146 between July 2016 and May 2021. The study compares characteristics of youth who received only Rapid Response services (n=271) to those who went on to enroll into LTS (n=185). Analyses also considered whether demographic, environmental, or adversity variables predicted successful or unsuccessful LTS service trajectories for youth. Researchers found that youth enrolled in the Love146 LTS program were significantly more likely than those who just received Rapid Response services to be younger and have confirmed (versus suspected) CSE victimization. With the exception of regular school attendance at the time of referral, adversity and risk profiles did not distinguish youth who successfully completed LTS from those who did not. Implications for improving services for this population of youth are discussed.

Policy makers and advocates have urged the development of interventions and programs that can provide children and youth who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) with needed services to reduce the likelihood of re-victimization and improve physical health, mental health, and education goals. Communities have responded by developing a variety of service models. However, there is little information about which youth can access CSE services or what service trajectories and outcomes look like for these youth. The non-profit organization Love146 has provided services to youth impacted by CSE through their Survivor Care program since 2014. The current study analyzes five years of de-identified client data from this program to understand the adversity histories of referred youth, and to identify which youth are most likely to access services over longer periods of time, with more successful outcomes.

Citation

Jones, Lisa M. Improving Outcomes for Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Victims: A Phased Evaluation of the LOVE146 Victim Services Program, Connecticut, 2016-2021. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2024-11-07. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR39100.v1

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Funding

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. National Institute of Justice (2020-V3-GX-0076)

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Restrictions

Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reason for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

2016-07-01 -- 2021-05-31

Date of Collection

2016-07-01 -- 2021-05-31

Data Collection Notes

  1. The archived data is from HIPPA-protected client records for youth. Per those protections and to maintain confidentiality, the archived data has been limited in scope. The full dataset can be obtained through permission from the service agency.

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Study Purpose

The study aimed to examine the following questions: 1) What are the characteristics and adversity histories seen in a large sample of youth who have experienced the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) victimization that have been referred for services? 2) What population of youth are triaged into longer-term intensive services by a CSEC victim service agency? 3) Looking at the sub-group of youth who were enrolled in Long-Term Services (LTS), what can be learned from case records about the characteristics of youth who are able to maintain longer-term connections with such a program, and with more successful outcomes? For the latter question, researchers examined predictors of successful educational outcomes during treatment and clinician determinations that the youth had made successful progress on key treatment goals and had successfully concluded LTS.

Study Design

De-identified client data were provided to the research team as part of an evaluability assessment study conducted in preparation for outcome evaluation research on the Love146 Survivor Care program. Client data were analyzed for 455 youth who were seen by the agency for Rapid Response (RR) services between July 2016 and May 2021. One-hundred and eighty-five youth (40%) receiving RR services were enrolled in theLove146 Long-Term Services (LTS) program. Analyses use both the full sample and the LTS subgroup to examine different research questions.

The data were part of client record databases maintained by Love146, connected for the purposes of these analyses by a unique research identification code created by Love146 for each youth. Data included information on youth demographics, adversity history (e.g., child abuse and mental health concerns), education status, legal guardian status, care plan goals (for youth enrolled in the LTS program), type and dates of service contacts the agency had with the youth, and service outcomes. Data were entered into the case file by Love146 social workers based on information provided by the youth or the original referral source and as a result of the social worker's work with the youth. Background client data were entered as a part of the initial RR service; then for LTS clients, information on services were entered throughout the service period, with final information on the youth's status entered at case closure.

Sample

The youth referred to Love146 during the 5-year analysis period (N=455) were primarily older adolescents (15-17 years old) (67%); the remaining youth in the sample were between 11 and 14 years old (33%). Most of the youth in the sample were female (91%), with 6% male and 2% gender minority. Twenty-three percent of the sample were Black/African American, 37% were Hispanic/Latino; 25% were White and 14% had other race or ethnicity backgrounds.

Time Method

Cross-sectional

Universe

Youth in Connecticut receiving services for risk of commercial sexual exploitation.

Unit(s) of Observation

Individual

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables

The study includes a dataset with a total of 34 variables. The data file asked the respondents to describe their child welfare involvement (prior), gang involvement, personal substance use, familial substance abuse, if they experienced domestic violence in the home, if they had a family member who was incarcerated, and if they were going through mental illness.

The dataset also included additional demographic variables such as; gender, sexual orientation, race, the participants parent's marital status.

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Original Release Date

2024-11-07

Version History

2024-11-07 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

  • Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.

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Notes

  • The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

  • One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.