More Tracking Needed to Assess Human Trafficking Programs

Why it Matters

Each year, tens of thousands of human trafficking survivors in the United States need access to behavioral health care, including trauma therapy and substance use disorder treatment. But a persistent shortage of specialized providers and fragmented federal programming leaves many without consistent help.

A new federal watchdog report finds that while the two agencies most responsible for funding human trafficking survivor grants are largely following sound management practices, the Department of Justice is falling short of a basic accountability standard for one of its key programs, leaving it without the measurable benchmarks needed to track whether the program is actually working.

The Scale of the Problem

In 2024, the National Human Trafficking Hotline identified nearly 12,000 human trafficking cases across the United States. Behind each case is a person who may require long-term behavioral health services trafficking survivors frequently need, including trauma-focused therapy, mental health counseling, and substance abuse treatment trafficking survivors often seek after escaping exploitation.

The federal government's primary response runs through two agencies. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) each fund two key grant programs specifically aimed at connecting survivors with these services. In fiscal year 2025, HHS awarded approximately $7.5 million across its two programs, while DOJ awarded approximately $45 million across its two. Together, the four programs assisted an estimated 13,900 survivors last year, with HHS programs reaching roughly 2,600 and DOJ programs reaching approximately 11,300.

What the GAO Found

The Government Accountability Office reviewed all four programs as part of a study mandated by the Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2022. GAO selected the four programs because their grantees reported providing the largest volume of behavioral health services in recent years. Researchers interviewed 15 grantees, chosen to reflect variation in both the volume of services provided and geographic location, as well as six stakeholders including representatives from survivor organizations and an independent researcher.

The findings were mixed. HHS followed leading practices in administering its survivor assistance programs, setting both long-term goals and measurable near-term targets with specific time frames. As one example cited in the report, HHS established a near-term goal requiring a grantee to deliver services to 50 survivors within a given fiscal year, a concrete and trackable benchmark.

DOJ's record was more uneven. Its program serving minor survivors followed the same leading practices. Its program for adult survivors did not. Specifically, DOJ's Office for Victims of Crime, which administers the Services for Victims of Human Trafficking program, has not set measurable near-term goals with targets and time frames for that program. Without those benchmarks, there is no reliable way to assess whether the program is reaching the people it is designed to serve, or whether the roughly $45 million in annual funding is being deployed effectively.

One Recommendation

GAO issued a single recommendation directed at the Attorney General, to be carried out through the Office for Victims of Crime, saying it needs to set measurable near-term goals with targets and time frames for the Services for Victims of Human Trafficking program. The recommendation is currently open, meaning DOJ has not yet acted on it. The department did concur with the finding, signaling formal agreement that the gap exists and needs to be addressed.

The recommendation may sound bureaucratic, but its practical implications are significant. Federal grant programs without measurable performance goals are harder to evaluate, harder to improve, and harder to defend in budget negotiations. For a program serving tens of thousands of adult survivors of human trafficking, the absence of those benchmarks means policymakers, advocates, and the public have limited visibility into outcomes.

Barriers Beyond Federal Control

Even well-managed grant programs face obstacles the federal government cannot fully resolve. GAO identified several access barriers affecting survivors' ability to obtain trauma therapy for human trafficking victims and other behavioral health services. Chief among them is a shortage of providers who specialize in treating trafficking survivors, a gap that reflects broader workforce shortages in behavioral health and the specialized training required to work effectively with this population. Both HHS and DOJ officials told GAO that they have taken steps to address the problem, including increasing human trafficking training for behavioral health providers as part of an effort to expand the pool of practitioners equipped to serve this population.

Survivor Assistance Programs Review

The Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2022 included a provision directing GAO to study the accessibility of behavioral health services for human trafficking survivors in the United States. That mandate reflects a recognition, built into law, that federal survivor assistance programs need independent scrutiny.

The reauthorization act itself is part of a longer legislative history. The original Trafficking Victims Protection Act, first passed in 2000, established the federal framework for combating human trafficking and supporting survivors. Successive reauthorizations have expanded and refined that framework, with the 2022 version adding the GAO study requirement as a mechanism for ongoing accountability.

What Comes Next

With DOJ's concurrence on GAO's recommendation, the Office for Victims of Crime is now on record agreeing that measurable near-term goals need to be established for the adult survivor program. GAO will track the recommendation as open until DOJ demonstrates that it has acted.

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