Transcript for Podcast 2 

 

Look Around You: Identifying Young People 
with Disabilities who may be Trafficked 

MARGARET POTKAY: We would like to advise our listeners that 
this podcast discusses topics that include human trafficking, 
sexual assault and domestic violence. Though we do not discuss 
graphic details, listener discretion is advised. 

Greetings, and welcome to the Trafficking of Youth with 
Disabilities Education and Outreach Project podcast. Thank you 
for joining us. The purpose of this podcast is to raise awareness 
about the reality of trafficking of youth with disabilities. We talk 
about what trafficking is, risk factors for youth with disabilities, 
and how providers and the disability community can support 
survivors. 

This podcast was produced and organized by the International 
Organization for Adolescents and the National Human Trafficking 
and Disabilities Working Group. I am your host, Margaret Potkay, 
project consultant with IOFA. So welcome to podcast two, titled, 
Look Around You - Identifying young people with disabilities who 
may be trafficked. 

Today we will be speaking with experts from a variety of 
disciplines, working at the intersection of human trafficking and 


disabilities, with the goal to help increase the number of young 
persons with disabilities that are identified and referred for 
services. Collectively our guests' experience covers anti-
trafficking, trauma, disability, advocacy, and law enforcement. 

They came to understand that youth with disabilities are at 
greater risk of trafficking, and are now working together to 
improve services for survivors of trafficking with disabilities. They 
will share their experiences, insights and suggestions on what is 
needed, moving forward, to ensure that youth survivors of 
trafficking with disabilities are supported. 

Today we are interviewing two multidisciplinary experts working 
at the intersection of human trafficking and disabilities. I'd like to 
welcome to the show Susan Kahan and Melanie Cross. Our 
episode today will be a two-part series. So first I'm going to have 
Melanie Cross introduce herself and her work. Thank you for 
joining us today. , 

MELANIE CROSS: Hello, and again, good day. My name is Melanie 
Cross. I am a registered nurse and my work has been in 
educating health care providers about human trafficking. I came 
to this work when I was invited to a concert, and I knew it was 
something for kids. And I didn't understand or know that it was 
about human trafficking. 


And the evening and the co-founders of this nonprofit, ZOE 
International, spoke about human trafficking and their work in 
rescuing children and children that are at risk, and I was just 
virtually sickened. I felt sick to know this was happening, and 
under our watch, and how could that even be? And my first 
question was, where are the nurses? 

Because whatever type of trafficking you're talking about, there 
are no protections. Young, old, male, female. Where are the 
nurses? Because these are people who are going to get hurt. And 
so that question drove me back to graduate school, where I 
worked on completing a Doctor of Nursing Practice, with a thesis 
of educating health care providers about how to identify and care 
for victims of human trafficking. 

Additionally, in my background, since high school I have always 
tuned in to work with people with special needs. And I've been a 
clinical coordinator for Special Olympics International, where we 
do health screenings out in the field for individuals with 
disabilities. I have worked on a number of nonprofits, including 
long periods of employment with people with special needs. So 
both of these populations are populations that I care for and work 
with. 

MARGARET POTKAY: Wonderful. Well, thank you for your work in 
the field and absolutely your contribution, and thank you for 
having your voice here to help educate and inspire us to have a 


discussion today. I'd like to start the interview by asking if you 
believe that youth with disabilities are at risk of, or greater risk, 
of being targeted by traffickers? 

MELANIE CROSS: I believe that they are the greater risk of being 
targeted by traffickers. And this could be evidenced not only in 
places where I served and individuals who I have known, but also 
with providers. An example that comes to mind is a nurse that I 
worked with for almost 20 years, and she herself has a sibling 
with a disability. And when I told her that my work was with 
youth with disabilities who are at risk of, and who have been 
trafficked, she gasped and she said, it happens to them too? 

MARGARET POTKAY: Right. It's always a surprise. 

MELANIE CROSS: It's a big surprise, so we have to start with an 
awareness and then we can move into education. But if you 
would think for a moment about individuals with disabilities, if 
they have some sort of a communication barrier, that puts them 
at even greater risk. Because even people who can communicate 
have a very difficult time, or maybe don't even-- aren't even able 
to understand that they're a victim of human trafficking. 

So often people with disabilities, they just can't understand it. 
They're very, very easily wooed. They want very much to be like 
everybody else, so they want a job and they want to be loved. 
And those two vulnerabilities, put together with a lack of 


programs, and lack of infrastructure, and the lack of a society 
that really cares about these individuals, puts them at the 
greatest risk. 

MARGARET POTKAY: Of course, and that is what we're trying to 
do today, and with this project, is to start sparking that 
awareness. And in your experience with that risk, could you 
describe some of the unique ways that traffickers might target 
youth with disabilities? 

MELANIE CROSS: Well, one way that has really come to mind, for 
my doctor nursing practice, I worked at the VIP clinic, which is 
the Victim Intervention helpline in downtown Los Angeles, where 
I got to see 28,000 to 30,000 victims of violence a year. And I 
worked with a pediatric nurse practitioner, and we did all the 
forensic exams of youth who have been abused in one way or 
another. 

So between that and between the people that I have known, 
virtually some of them for even 20 plus years, they have ended 
up-- I've known them their whole lives-- and they've ended up as 
a victim of human trafficking. In this area where I really see a big 
hole is is the internet and the way that we communicate. For 
example, if someone stutters and can't speak, they can go online. 
And even if they don't spell well, they can get out a word without 
that stuttering. 


And so that's where I've seen people easily victimized. And at the 
VIP clinic, all of the kids that we met-- I wish I would have done 
some sort of a study on it, because I could say virtually all of 
them-- had some sort of an Instagram mommy, daddy, aunt, 
uncle, somebody, an outside adult, who was talking to them, that 
the people who was supposed to be caring for them, were 
unaware of. 

MARGARET POTKAY: Right 

MELANIE CROSS: So, one of the young women that I helped to 
recover from trafficking, I helped to-- she had to go to a locked 
facility because she was just, she was just so vulnerable and it's 
just such a huge risk. And in there, there was a psychiatrist who 
put it very well to her. He said, the internet is like a knife. You 
can use it to butter toast, or you could use it to hurt someone. 

And he did a visual with that, so that she could see that and 
understand that. And I thought that was a beautiful explanation 
of what is out there. 

MARGARET POTKAY: That is so well stated, and I was going to 
inquire and ask how did the traffickers recruit youth with 
disabilities? And that's a very important and essential topic today 
to bring up, is with the internet use today, certainly. 


MELANIE CROSS: Right, and there's Facebook and then there's 
Instagram, you know, and there's Instagram, and even on 
Facebook, there's Messenger. So as fast as someone figures that 
out, there's another way to get around it. And I work also with 
the LA Regional Human Trafficking Task Force and one of the 
detectives that I have presented on a number of occasions 
together, and he is really working on the dark net. 

Because the dark net, there's so much out there, and our youth 
just, nobody is, and no one really is paying attention to them. As 
you walk around you'll see that no one really is paying attention 
to them. And if they have a phone, and most of them do, down 
it's so easy for them to find somebody who will pay attention to 
them. 

MARGARET POTKAY: So in the end it goes back to how you 
explained and stated, persons with disabilities, youth with 
disabilities, everybody, we are all the same. And we want the 
same things, which is to be loved, and have a livelihood. So it 
definitely puts anyone at risk, really. 

MELANIE CROSS: And they especially, they'll do anything for a 
job or a significant other. It's their constant conversation. I 
mean, I've been [INAUDIBLE] I've been on [INAUDIBLE], I've 
done dances, you know, weekend athletic events, and that is 
what they want. Which is what we all want, but they just it more, 
because they don't have it. 


MARGARET POTKAY: Certainly, certainly. So, would you say, so 
we've talked a little bit about the internet and how traffickers 
might use that means to recruit youth with disabilities. Do you 
have any other thoughts on how traffickers recruit youth with 
disabilities? 

MELANIE CROSS: I know that usually they'll collect in different 
places, and so that's a really easy place to just work your way 
into. Like here, in my valley, there's a youth center that has got 
like a pool and a skate park. And there's a room where they all 
gather. And I myself have just ridden my bike over there and 
implanted myself in the center of a circle. It's super easy to do. 

MARGARET POTKAY: OK, thank you. And in terms of the process. 
Could you talk a little bit about what it means to groom a youth 
in that way, right? So when a youth, or a youth with disability is 
identified by a trafficker, could you give me an example and talk 
to me a little bit about what grooming is? 

MELANIE CROSS: Oh, it's pretty easy. A couple of examples of 
people that I know that have been groomed, one was a woman 
who just hung out at the mall. That's another great place to find 
people with disabilities. And she would go up to someone who 
looked vulnerable, looked like she was accessible, and she would 
say, oh people think you have a disability, but I know you don't. I 
think you can do this and this. Coercing them by giving them the 
false hope that they could have a job, that they could have a life, 


or they could get away from whatever restraints they feel are 
holding them back at home. 

And the second big one is, I love you. Nobody else loves you. I 
love you. 

MARGARET POTKAY: So Melanie, that certainly sounds of 
coercion. I would like to ask you if there is a particular case in 
which you can describe this kind of incident. 

MELANIE CROSS: Thinking of one case had a sister who looked 
and looked and looked for her. And her sister found her through 
an Instagram trail. And she had crossed state lines. And found 
her and went and picked her up, even though law enforcement 
was involved and they didn't know what to do, and they weren't 
very helpful. This young woman is out of state too, a Southern 
state, but we were able to find law enforcement here to have a 
conversation with them, and help them to understand this was a 
youth who was in her mid-20s, and she was conserved. So there 
was a way to go and pick her up. And it wasn't, it wasn't easy. 

MARGARET POTKAY: Right. 

MELANIE CROSS: Our Director of Regional Center, which, that's 
the agency that provides services for this population, she told me 
that she knows of youth who regularly go and traffic themselves 


to earn money and then, they eventually come back. I think a lot 
of times it is for the money. 

MARGARET POTKAY: Right. And in this process, of course, there 
has to be an identification of trafficking. In your experience, in 
terms of youth with disabilities, in your experience, are trafficked 
youth with disabilities being identified as trafficked? And how are 
they currently being identified? 

MELANIE CROSS: Even when they are identified, my experience 
has been, that they are such poor witnesses, that the cases don't 
get prosecuted. 

MARGARET POTKAY: So there is a challenge of actually following 
through, on the prosecution side as well. 

MELANIE CROSS: Absolutely. 

MARGARET POTKAY: And how can we improve our efforts to 
recognize when a youth with disabilities is being groomed or 
trafficked? 

MELANIE CROSS: I think the best thing to do is to try and know 
the youth. To try and find other people, similar to you, who care 
about these youth, and to build small nonprofits that know these 
youth. And then, one of the best resources is healtrafficking.org 
that's one of the virtual places for professionals to gather and 
share real research, and what is happening, and who's doing 


what, and HEAL stands for Health, Education, Advocacy and 
Linkage. 

So there's a space for everybody in there and it is a free nonprofit 
and their research focused on affordable, and things that you can 
use and in there, HEAL trafficking have developed a protocol for 
health care, which could be used anywhere, because it's a 
template. And the template starts with knowing your resources. 
So know your community. You need to know who you can call. 
That's one of the first things you need to know. 

MARGARET POTKAY: Great. And that leads me to my next 
question. If you suspect someone is being trafficked, what is the 
process or steps that providers could take? 

MELANIE CROSS: If you have not built your resources and you 
don't have a network, then you need to call this human trafficking 
hotline. And they will network you with the closest agency. So 
that's 888-3737-888. And I think everyone should have that in 
their cell. 

MARGARET POTKAY: Thank you, thank you so much. I really 
appreciate, we appreciate having you on the episode today and 
bringing in all this very valuable, tangible, thought-provoking 
information. And we really hope that we can spark a conversation 
about the intersection of youth with disabilities and youth 
trafficking. 


I'd like to just to finish off the interview to ask if there is anything 
else we haven't discussed that you would like us to know or 
anything that you feel pertinent to share? 

MELANIE CROSS: I just really believe that together we can. We 
need the education and then we really need to link arms and 
build a network, community, the community, where there's safe 
spaces for all people. And I think that together we can. 

MARGARET POTKAY: I fully believe it. And absolutely we hope 
that this project will help spark a conversation that will help us 
move towards the awareness, and the work, and the education 
that can bring a more equitable society, and happiness for 
everybody. So thank you so much for joining us today and for 
your very valuable work in the field. Thank you, Melanie. 

MELANIE CROSS: You're very welcome. 

MARGARET POTKAY: So now we've had the opportunity to learn 
from several experts who work with youth trafficking survivors 
with disabilities about how traffickers target, groom, and control 
youth with disabilities. And how to respond to suspicions of 
trafficking. Now we will talk to Susan Kahan, an expert in 
disability advocacy, about how services can best be accessible 
and inclusive for youth survivors with disabilities. 


Welcome to the show, Susan Kahan. Thank you for being with us 
today. I would love to have you introduce yourself to our 
listeners. 

SUSAN KAHAN: Sure. My name is Susan Kahan. I work at the 
University of Illinois in Chicago, at the Institute on Disability and 
Human Development. I'm a therapist at the clinic here. Our 
institute is the University Center of Excellence in Developmental 
Disability for the State of Illinois, which means that we provide a 
lot of services and we have an academic center, all addressing 
issues related to developmental disability. 

And in that context we also have our clinic, where we provide 
mental health support, therapeutic services, and diagnostics. 

MARGARET POTKAY: Wonderful. Thank you so much for joining 
us on the podcast today. We very much value your experience 
and time. We've learned from several experts who work with 
youth trafficking survivors with disabilities, about how traffickers 
target, groom, and control, youth with disabilities. And how to 
respond to suspicions of trafficking. So now I'm going to ask 
Susan Kahan a few questions, an expert in disability advocacy, 
about how services can best be accessible and inclusive for youth 
survivors with disabilities. 

So Susan, how do you find resources or referrals for a trafficked 
youth with disabilities? 


SUSAN KAHAN: So the primary referrals that I get come through 
the Chicago Children's Advocacy Center. The Children's Advocacy 
Centers are the agencies throughout the country that coordinate 
investigation of child sexual abuse cases, including youth who are 
trafficked. Those cases that the advocacy centers coordinate 
services, including the forensic interviewing, the police 
department investigators, child protective services investigators, 
but they often also include mental health support and health care 
support for children who have been, who have experienced 
abuse. 

And so incorporated into that group are the youth who have been 
trafficked. In addition to providing some services themselves, 
they'll refer those cases out to trauma agencies for support. And 
they'll also often coordinate other services that the individual 
might need. So when they have youth coming through with 
disabilities, the Advocacy Centers will look for disability-friendly 
agencies to provide the kinds of services that might support that 
person going forward. 

MARGARET POTKAY: Thank you, and can you just tell me what 
does it mean to be a disability-inclusive and accessible 
organization? 

SUSAN KAHAN: What we hope is that agencies have some kind of 
foundational experience, or knowledge, or understanding, of 
working with somebody with a disability. Disability can be a 


physical disability, a sensory disability, like blindness or deafness, 
or it can be an intellectual disability, a developmental disability, 
including autism. Each of those are covered under the umbrella of 
disability. 

And for a place to be disability-friendly, we hope that they have 
had some experience or some foundational knowledge, so that 
their facilities are accessible. For example, wheelchair accessible, 
if somebody is using a wheelchair or has other mobility issues 
that they have some understanding of the different kinds of, the 
different ways that people might learn, or might understand. So 
for example, somebody with autism might do best if you're trying 
to work with them, for example on mental health, or even on life 
skills, if they're presented with visual supports. 

Somebody with intellectual disability who can't read, you'd want 
to make sure that whatever kind of support or care you're 
providing them, is supported either verbally or through pictures, 
so that the information is accessible to people, that the facilities 
are accessible to people. Oftentimes agencies don't necessarily 
have that kind of background when we call or when we reach out 
to them. And that's understandable. Disability is not typically 
taught in schools for mental health counseling, or in social work 
programs. 

Very little about disability is taught, actually, even in the health 
care community. In those cases, to me, what makes somebody 


disability-friendly, is their ability to be open to consultation and 
support from an agency like mine. Where we could provide some 
training, we could provide some basic support, not only for the 
individual, but for the staff. 

For example, I do this with the Chicago Children's Advocacy 
Center, where every other week, I spent an hour and a half over 
there, just providing consultation to their investigators, their 
forensic interviewers, or their mental health staff, their family 
advocates. So that if they have questions that come up, I'm 
available to answer them. I can help them develop visual support, 
or I can help them think about the best ways to communicate 
with somebody who might have communication challenges. 

I think that the key is being open to learning. Being open to 
cross-training, really, with the disability community. And every 
State will have places, agencies, that would be able to provide 
that kind of support. Oftentimes it's going to take a little, a few 
phone calls to find out, but I think it's out there. 

MARGARET POTKAY: OK. And could you tell me how would one go 
about finding such inclusive organizations? 

SUSAN KAHAN: In most states what you will have is-- I believe in 
every state you'll have-- something called a Center for 
Independent Living. Those are agencies that are able to provide, 
that provide all kinds of support for people with disabilities, 


including support around accessibility, support around life skills, 
oftentimes they have support groups and other groups that 
provide training or support for individuals with disability. 

But those agencies are staffed with experts in the field. And in my 
experience, they're very open to the idea of reaching out to 
community providers and providing the kind of training or support 
that those groups might need in order to become part of a circle 
of referral supports available to people with disabilities. The other 
place that might be a very good referral source would be a center 
like the Institute here at UIC. 

They are called UCEDDs-- University Centers of Excellence on 
Development Disability. Some of them are clinic-based, some of 
them are academic-based, they are all at universities. But they 
are often a very, very good referral source for training and 
consultation on issues related to disability. 

MARGARET POTKAY: OK, wonderful. Thank you so much for that 
very helpful information. And can I also ask, where can providers 
go for support in order to create a more disability-friendly and 
inclusive service environment themselves? 

SUSAN KAHAN: I think the key for providers is to reach out to 
their local disability agencies. Like the UCEDDs or the Centers for 
Independent Living. And I think that that's where you're going to 
find some really good experts, people who, their whole job is to 


support individuals with disability. And the best way to support 
individuals with disability is to support the community that they 
are part of. 

And to the extent that we're working with youth who have been 
trafficked, the community that they're part of are the agencies 
that are helping them. And those agencies, in my experience, 
those agencies are disability-friendly to the extent that they are 
always open to finding whatever is best. Whatever the needs, 
meeting the needs of those youth. 

And so it's never been a struggle for me to have the agencies 
who are working with youth who have been trafficked, or youth 
who have experienced other kinds of trauma, it's never been a 
hard sell to get them to accept some training. Or, conversely, for 
them to support me in being able to provide the best trauma 
informed services that I can. Really one thing I've always 
appreciated, at least here in Chicago, is the openness of the two 
communities to work together to support. 

MARGARET POTKAY: Certainly we do need more collaboration. 
And you did mention some cross-cultural trainings. Have you 
been involved in them, or could you tell me a little bit about what 
they look like? 

SUSAN KAHAN: Oh, sure. One example is the cross-training that 
I've done, and the cross-consultation that I've done with the 


Chicago Children's Advocacy Center, for a long time I was taking 
referrals from them, from some of their clients who had been 
abused, who also had disabilities. And our clinic did not have a lot 
of expertise in that area, and I was able to get consultation and-- 
case consultation and supervision, actually-- from the mental 
health people at the Chicago Children's Advocacy Center. 

We also have at the Advocacy Center something called the 
coalition against sexual abuse of children, which is a coalition of 
trauma agencies, community mental health providers, and 
disability agencies, working together to expand the capacity in 
the community to support children who have experienced any 
kind of sexual abuse, including trafficking. Through that 
organization I've done training on working with children with 
disabilities for many of the trauma providers in our community. 

And it's been, it's been really a good experience. I think the key 
is that, like every community mental health agency, there tends 
to be a lot of turnover, so whatever efforts need to be made to 
make sure that training and consultation is made available on 
something of a continuing basis, is most helpful. 

MARGARET POTKAY: Thank you. And one question just-- how do 
you ensure the referral agency is disability-friendly and inclusive? 
Meaning how would one ensure, or know, that their agency is 
disability-friendly and inclusive? 


SUSAN KAHAN: Do you mean that the agency, the individual, is 
already--? 

MARGARET POTKAY: Is being referred to, if you are referring to 
an agency, referring them to an agency, how do you ensure the 
referral agency is disability-friendly and inclusive? 

SUSAN KAHAN: What would be most important is asking 
questions upfront, and I'd want to assess the comfort level that 
that agency has. Their openness to working with somebody with 
a disability of whatever kind. That they are accessible. If I have 
somebody with a mobility issue, if they are able to access 
translators, for example, if somebody is deaf, that they, what I'm 
not getting from them in the initial calls are, we don't work with 
people like that. 

Sometimes we get exactly that response and it's very 
disheartening when it happens. But once I get that response. I'm 
not going to pursue that agency further because they're already 
giving me a signal that says, this is not an agency that's 
inclusive. I don't think you can always have an expectation that a 
place is already going to have the kind of experience or expertise 
that you're looking for. 

Because what we find is that that's not common. That's not 
necessarily common. What we are looking for is an agency that's 
willing to work with us. Just work with me. Be open, be 


accepting. I'll help, I'm always happy to help. If you have 
questions, let me answer them. I'll come over there and do a 
training. I'll work with your staff. 

What I need to know is that you're open to that, that you're 
interested to that, and that you're willing to see this group of 
youths as much in need as any other youth. And that you're 
willing to work as hard to find this person the services that they 
need, to the same extent that you're willing to find other people 
the services that they need. Disability is not, people with 
disabilities, it's not a different species, it's not a different culture, 
necessarily-- there are some unique disability cultures-- but what 
it is are kids in need. 

And we can do that. We can do that. And what I found is without 
a whole lot of work on anybody's part, a willingness to reach out 
for help, and a willingness to support agencies, we get a lot done. 
And that we have opened up a lot more capacity in our 
community mental health agencies by just simply saying to them, 
let us help. Let us provide you some training. Let us take your 
phone calls when you have questions. 

But please, maintain these kids in your program. They don't all 
have to come here. I can't possibly see them all, that's OK. You 
maintain them there and I'll help. 


MARGARET POTKAY: That's wonderful. Well, thank you so much 
for all the information and feedback and I'll just ask the last 
question for the interview. Could you just tell me if there's 
anything that we missed or anything extra that you would like to 
share with the audience? 

SUSAN KAHAN: No, I think for me the most important message is 
the real importance of cross-training, cross-consultation and 
cross-support between the trauma world and the disability world, 
so that we can provide the kinds of services and support, that we 
can find the resources that these kids need by helping each 
other. 

I think traditionally the two worlds have worked in silos, and it 
turns out that it's not hard to break down those walls. That a little 
support, a little training, and the offer of some kind of ongoing 
consultation, goes a long way. 

MARGARET POTKAY: Of course. It goes a long way and certainly 
we hope that projects like this one can help us collaborate, 
intersect, understand better, how we can provide the best 
services. So thank you again for your time, your valued expertise 
and insight today. We appreciate your time very much. 

SUSAN KAHAN: No problem. I appreciate your interest in the 
topic, I think it's so important. 


MARGARET POTKAY: Thank you for listening to our podcast. If 
you have questions and would like to contact us, please email us 
at info@iofa.org. You can learn more about IOFA and contact us 
at our website www.iofa.org. You can learn more about the 
National Human Trafficking and Disabilities Working Group, 
NHTDWG, at iofa.org/national trafficking disabilities working 
group and find additional resources on the intersection of human 
trafficking and youth with disabilities. 

If you are concerned that someone you care about is at risk of, or 
being trafficked, you can get help at the National Human 
Trafficking Hotline at 888-3737-888, 24 hours a day, seven days 
a week. Text 233733 or live chat with an advocate at their 
website, https//humantraf fickinghotline.org. 

This project was produced by the International Organization for 
Adolescents under award number 2016XVGXK015, awarded by 
the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, US 
Department of Justice. The opinions, findings and conclusions, or 
recommendations, expressed in this project are those of the 
contributors, and do not necessarily represent the official 
positions or policies of the US Department of Justice. 

Thank you to our partners, National Human Trafficking and 
Disabilities Working Group, and the National Resource Center for 
Reaching Victims.