January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month
Refugee Programs Bureau (RPB)
Background
The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) is committed to the prevention and eradication of human trafficking, as well as to providing ongoing support to survivors of human trafficking in California. January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and for 2026, the Child Trafficking Response Team and the Refugee Programs Bureau’s (RPB’s) Asylee and Trafficking Unit are hosting an array of virtual events and other activities designed to raise awareness of human trafficking in California, the nation, and the world. We hope you will join us this month in our efforts to boost system-wide knowledge and prevention and response efforts around the issue of human trafficking.
In 2025, human trafficking was once again the fastest growing and second largest criminal industry in the world. Human traffickers continue to profit greatly from the exploitation of youth and adults within our most vulnerable populations. Sadly, many in California may not realize that human trafficking is taking place in plain view in many different settings and across various industries in their communities. As a result, human trafficking remains underreported, and trafficking survivors frequently go unidentified. Males, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and related (LGTBQ+) youth, Tribal youth, and unaccompanied minors are disproportionately impacted due to systemic injustices and incorrect assumptions about who is affected by human trafficking.
National Human Trafficking Awareness Day on Sunday, January 11, 2026
To raise awareness of human trafficking, the Department of Homeland Security’s Blue Campaign has created an initiative on Sunday, January 11, 2026, called #WearBlueDay. Join #WearBlueDay by taking photos of yourselves, friends, family, and colleagues wearing blue clothing and sharing these pictures on social media along with the #WearBlueDay hashtag. The Blue Campaign is a national public awareness campaign designed to educate the public, law enforcement, and other industry partners to recognize the indicators of human trafficking, and to know how to appropriately respond to possible instances of human trafficking.
Live and On-Demand Trainings
Below are opportunities to participate in virtual events designed to raise awareness of Human Trafficking:
The following events are presented by the CDSS Refugee Programs Bureau, Asylee and Trafficking Unit:
Trafficking and Crime Victims Assistance Program (TCVAP) Information Session
Register for Tuesday, January 13, 2026, 1:00-2:00 P.M.
Within CDSS, RPB provides state-level leadership and coordination of programs and services to help vulnerable populations achieve successful resettlement and integration in California communities. Through the Trafficking and Crime Victims Assistance Program (TCVAP), the RPB works with all 58 counties in California to provide cash assistance, food benefits, health care, employment services, and other social services supports to eligible noncitizen survivors of human trafficking, domestic violence, and other serious crimes. This webinar will provide an overview of TCVAP, the application process, benefits, and services. We encourage you to attend this session to learn more about how this program supports noncitizen trafficking survivors.
Stop, Observe, Ask, Respond (SOAR) On-Demand Training
Sign up for the SOAR online training
The Stop, Observe, Ask, Respond (SOAR) framework is a trauma-informed, culturally and linguistically appropriate response to human trafficking. The SOAR framework is designed to educate health care providers, social workers, public health professionals, and behavioral health professionals on how to identify, treat, and respond appropriately to individuals who are at risk or who have experienced human trafficking.
To access the SOAR training, please visit the SOAR training website and create an account. Access will then be granted to the catalog of SOAR trainings, including trainings on preventing and responding to human trafficking, trauma informed care, and culturally and linguistically appropriate services.
The following events are presented by our partners, the CDSS Safety and Early Intervention Bureau, Child Trafficking Program Support Unit:
“A Reclamation” Art Gallery to Uplift Lived Experience Videos
Beginning January 7, 2026, and running through the end of the month, CDSS will host “A Reclamation” Art Gallery, presented by Preventing and Addressing Child Trafficking (PACT). This art gallery features creative expression from California artists, leaders, and lived experience experts. Be inspired as the collection takes viewers on a journey exploring themes of healing, reclamation, and resilience through a variety of mediums including poetry, creative writing, graphic art, and photography. The collection includes submissions from the PACT Consultant Network and the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) Action Team Advisory Board.
The gallery will be viewable during business hours, located in the CDSS building at 744 P Street, Sacramento, CA 95814, in the first-floor hallway of Office Building 8.
Intersections of Trauma and Trafficking – Principles of Trauma-Informed Care and Practice Training Course
Register for Wednesday, January 14, 2026, 12:00-2:00 P.M.
This training is hosted by the CSEC Action Team in partnership with the National Center on Child Trafficking. The training presentation will include core concepts and principles of trauma and how they relate to trafficking, while providing real examples and strategies for working with young people and families. This session is relevant for anyone working with young people, including those experiencing trauma related to trafficking or other adverse experiences. The training session will also feature the two experts below who will share their experience and perspectives to guide our discussion.
- Maria Contreras, Manager, Community & Policy, National Center for Youth Law
- Kelly Kinnish, Director, The National Center on Child Trafficking, School of Public Health, Georgia State University
Hidden in Plain Sight - Child Labor Trafficking & Intersections with Commercial Sexual Exploitation Training Webinar
Register for Thursday, January 22, 2026, 10:00 A.M.-12:00 P.M.
Preventing and Addressing Child Trafficking (PACT) a program of the Child and Family Policy Institute of California (CFPIC) will present this important webinar. Across the United States, including here in California, children are coerced, deceived, or forced into unsafe work. Some labor in fields, restaurants, or homes, while others are pushed into criminal acts like selling drugs or recruiting peers. Labor trafficking hides in plain sight and often overlaps with Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE) and forced criminality. Traffickers prey on vulnerable youth, especially those who’ve experienced foster care, homelessness, or juvenile justice involvement. This training shines a light on these hidden realities. Together, we’ll learn to spot the signs, respond with empathy, and connect young people to safety and support.
Best Practices and Tools for Child Welfare Professionals to Support Immigrant Child Victims
Register for Tuesday, January 27, 2026, 10:00 A.M.-12:00 P.M.
This training is presented by Leslye E. Orloff, Adjunct Professor and Director of the National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project (NIWAP) at American University, Washington College of Law. This course will introduce attendees to the Child Protective Services Toolkit which provides child welfare professionals with a comprehensive understanding of the humanitarian immigration relief options available to protect abused and neglected noncitizen children and/or their noncitizen parents. Participants will learn about four key forms of immigration relief: (1) the Violence Against Women Act self-petition, (2) the U visa for crime victims, (3) the T visa for human trafficking victims, and (4) Special Immigrant Juvenile Status.
The presentation will also cover best practices for working with children from immigrant and mixed-status families. Topics include early intervention strategies, trauma-informed and culturally sensitive approaches, and providing supportive services for abused children and their protective parents. Attendees will learn how to use the NIWAP’s public benefits map, charts, and infographic tools to look up which state and federal public benefits and services are available in California to assist immigrant children and family members that child welfare professionals encounter in their work.
California Department of Social Services Child Trafficking Response Team Virtual
Panel Discussion on Community Drop-In Centers Serving Exploited and At-Risk Youth
Register for Wednesday, January 28, 2026, 1:30-3:00 P.M.
Drop-in center directors in San Francisco and Orange County, their county partners, and panel members with lived experience - youth who have benefitted greatly from engagement with these drop-in centers will be part of this panel discussion. Plan to be inspired by moving success stories and expect to take away a practical sense of what goes into building an impactful drop-in center that reaches and serves the populations most vulnerable to human trafficking in your community.
Resources
The RPB has curated a list of recommended books, podcasts, films, and community events that foster awareness of human trafficking. Through the experiences of survivors, documentarians, journalists, novelists, and more, we hope these recommendations enrich your understanding of human trafficking and spark a call to action through the work that you do in social services.
Books & Novels
Eradicating Human Trafficking: A Transformative Approach through Collective Impact, by Brittany C Dunn and Bill Woolf
Fishermen Slaves: Human Trafficking and the Seafood We Eat, by Associated Press
Human Trafficking: Examining the Facts (Contemporary Debates), by Laura J. Lederer
I Walked Through Fire to Get Here: How I Survived and Thrived After Sex Trafficking (Memoir), by Megan Conner
In Our Backyard: Human Trafficking in America and What we Can Do to Stop It, by Nita Belles
Life Interrupted: Trafficking into Forced Labor in the United States, by Denise Brennan
The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today, by Kevin Bales & Ron Soodalter
Unbroken Chains: The Hidden Role of Human Trafficking in the American Economy, by Melissa Hope Ditmore
Podcast Stations
Note: Listener/viewer discretion advised. Podcasts may contain explicit content related to human trafficking, including conversations about rape, domestic abuse, violence, torture, sexual assault, drugs, alcohol abuse, trauma, and more.
#TRAFFICKED (Cheryl Hunter) - #TRAFFICKED chronicles the stories of sex-trafficking survivors and advocates, as told to Cheryl Hunter who was kidnapped and trafficked as a teen.
I Dare You (United Against Human Trafficking) - Focuses on community engagement, practical prevention strategies, and facts about trafficking in local contexts.
Sold in America - An eight-episode journey into the world of selling sex in the United States. Hosted by journalist and activist Noor Tagouri, this deeply personal, deeply reported series takes listeners across the country to meet the human faces of this billion-dollar trade – and uncovers its surprising misconceptions.
Trafficking Free America (U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking) - Survivors tell their stories and truths about human trafficking and share what is actively decreasing human trafficking.
Movies, Short Films and Videos
Cast (Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking), a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to combating human trafficking, has provided a list of survivor-vetted films that explore the broader aspects of trafficking that are often overlooked. Visit the blog post, Let’s Go to the Movies: A List of Human Trafficking Movies, compiled by Survivors, to access the list and to learn about additional ways to support trafficking survivors.
Additional Resources
Do you have resources to share? Submit your favorite resource to be shared with the community. Submit by email to TCVAP@dss.ca.gov
Community Events
Want your event to be featured? Submit your event to TCVAP@dss.ca.gov with all the event information and flyer in accessible format.
Signature Block
Please add the below Human Trafficking Prevention Month image to your email signature block for the month of January.
For more information regarding California’s Child Welfare response to Commercial Sexual Exploitation, please contact the Child Trafficking Response Team (CTRT) at CSECProgram@dss.ca.gov. For ongoing updates and information, please subscribe to the CTRT Quarterly Newsletter .
For more information regarding TCVAP, the Refugee Resettlement Program, or other human trafficking concerns related to noncitizen survivors and refugee and immigrant communities, please contact the Asylee and Trafficking Unit at RPB@dss.ca.gov. For ongoing updates and information from the Refugee Programs Bureau (RPB), please subscribe to the RPB listserv .
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