Human Trafficking Research Lab @Millikin

We had a virtual Central Illinois Human Trafficking Task Force meeting today where Cassidy took the minutes. It was nice to see people who I met at the Illinois Statewide Human Trafficking Conference last week in Peoria and talk about recent trends that service providers are seeing. We also discussed the leadership transition as I am moving to South Dakota and the Center for Prevention of Abuse is going to help the Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Family Services Office in Decatur run the task force in the future. I am sad to be moving onto other locations but it was a nice send off after eight years of serving on the CIHTTF and running the meetings for almost three years of that time. It definitely felt like I was one of the longest serving members but I know I am leaving the task force in good hands. 

This week we attended the first ever Illinois Statewide Human Trafficking Conference in Peoria. It was a great educational and networking opportunity. The conference was organized by the Children's Advocacy Centers of Illinois (CACI), Illinois State Police Investigations, Illinois Department of Human Services, and Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. The Human Trafficking Research Lab was also asked to present on the Central Illinois Human Trafficking Task Force (CIHTTF) and some of the adjudication research we conducted in the lab. The panel "Lunch & Local Task Force Overview" introduced conference attendees to various task forces in the state, including two OVC-funded Enhanced Collaborative Model task forces, one statewide task force, one task force overseen by a local mayor's office, and one task force covering central Illinois.  The conference was attended by over 300 anti-trafficking advocates around the state and I was able to meet many of t...