Child trafficking is a problem in Connecticut, but you can help stop it.
Love146 is the primary specialized statewide service provider supporting youth who’ve been trafficked. Founded over 20 years ago and headquartered in New Haven, Love146 is a credible force preventing child trafficking and providing holistic expert support to survivors.
our survivor care has supported over 900 youth from every corner of connecticut.
Love146 Survivor Care Youth Served by Region, 2014-2024
Love146 is journeying with hundreds of youth who’ve been harmed by trafficking and exploitation in our state – but we can’t do it without you.
We need to see a crowd of people saying: I’m here to help. you can count on me.
That’s where The Collective comes in…
Any monthly donors whose address is in Connecticut are automatically members of The Collective!
Being a part of the The Connecticut Collective means YOU'LL GET:
- Local face-to-face meetups with people who are also committed to supporting children in our community
- Exclusive updates about the impact you’re making and conversation with Love146 leadership
- A Connecticut Collective Tote Bag
- A sticker for your car, laptop, or water bottle
- First notifications about volunteer opportunities
- A standing 15% discount for the Love146 Online Store
For Organizations, it means greater value to your customers and visibility to new audiences
Businesses and Organizations in the Connecticut Collective giving a monthly donation of $100 or more (payable in monthly installments or annually as a lump sum) can get a sticker for their window retail and listing on the site. To opt-in, please email donation@love146.org. Groups giving via check or ACH will need to sign a pledge to complete their monthly gifts for a minimum of 12 months.
HEAR FROM OUR TEAM AND YOUNG PEOPLE
Love146 on Fox61 discussing Trafficking in CT and what we can do
What Love146 advocacy looks like in Connecticut legislative spaces
The stories several young children in our survivor care program
What does Love146 do in Connecticut?
Click to explore and learn more about each service.
Rapid Responses
This one-time intervention provides critical information and safety planning in a one-on-one setting to children and youth who are at high-risk for or suspected or confirmed survivors of human trafficking. Designed to target the unique risk factors and needs of individual children, Rapid Responses are an extremely effective intervention that helps youth understand the grooming, recruitment, and exploitation involved in human trafficking so that they are empowered to make informed decisions regarding their safety and seek additional services as needed.
Survivor Care: Long-Term Care
Guided by individualized Care Plans youth develop, Long-Term Services are designed to help youth address their trauma and reduce their risk for revictimization. Long-Term Services are provided by licensed social workers and services may include, but are not limited to: crisis counseling, mental health services, safety planning, building social capital, psycho-social education, criminal/civil justice system assistance, personal advocacy/accompaniment, education support, and information and referral services. The length of Long-Term Services varies based on youth’s individual needs but are typically provided for 9-18 months.
Survivor Care: Transitional Services
For youth ages 16+, Love146 offers Transitional Services to help youth enter adulthood and achieve economic independence and well-being. Through Transitional Services, Love146 staff help youth with locating employment opportunities, completing employment applications, resume building, interview techniques and soft skills, on the job support to maintain employment, securing post-secondary education or vocational placement, completing scholarship and Financial Aid applications, housing, parenting, and case management. The National Youth Employment Coalition recognized the impressive impact of Love146’s education and employment services, awarding Love146 their 2024 Innovation Award.
Survivor Care: Parenting Support
Love146 takes a 2-Generation approach journeying alongside the parents and caregivers of youth receiving Long-Term Services,providing them psychosocial support, information and resources so that they’re better able to help and protect their children. For parents who’ve experienced their own victimization, Love146 provides additional support and referral services so that they are able to effectively address their own trauma while also caring for their children. Rapid Responses are also available for parents and caregivers so that they have a clear understanding of the grooming, recruitment, and exploitation involved in human trafficking, the needs of children who have experienced trafficking victimization, and the resources available in Connecticut.
Prevention Education
Love146’s Prevention Education curricula, Not a Number, is being implemented in over 30 states, including Connecticut. This 5-module Nationally recognized prevention education program is designed for youth ages 12-18, and can be implemented with youth in a variety of settings including schools, residential settings, after-school programs, and other community-based settings. The goal of this curriculum is to provide individuals with the knowledge necessary to identify potential traffickers and the skills needed to effectively counter their recruitment and grooming tactics.
Love146 provides training to communities and providers working with youth disproportionately impacted by trafficking victimization in order to ensure that they are aware of the issue and the resources that exist within Love146 and across the state to support youth who have experienced this form of victimization. We’re also committed to system’s change. Love146 brings our on-the-ground expertise and insights to educate decision-makers, community leaders, legislators, and others across the state so that they have the information they need to protect and provide for vulnerable and trafficked youth.
Love146 is committed to investing in and delivering innovative programs,and rigorously evaluating our efforts. By measuring the impact of our programs on the children we serve, we aim to set a standard that reimagines what effective child trafficking prevention and survivor care can look like, and sharing our findings so that they may be replicated at scale. Love146’s prevention and survivor care work are both undergoing third-party outcome evaluations, conducted by the University of New Hampshire Crimes Against Children Research Center with funding from the CDC and DOJ.
Love146's history in connecticut
Headquartered in Connecticut, Love146 was founded in 2002. Love146’s work initially focused overseas, and people didn’t believe us when we told them that trafficking was also occurring in our own backyard. When people heard the term “trafficking” they still thought we were talking about vehicle traffic on roads. Unlike today, “human trafficking” wasn’t a term folks were familiar with. In fact, most of the youth we now serve would not have been identified as victims. Instead, children in Connecticut were still being arrested for the crime of “prostitution”. In our organization’s early years, we got pushback from many in the state when we said that children being purchased for sex were victims — not criminals. In 2010, we were a part of an effort to get “Safe Harbor” legislation passed in Connecticut. Safe Harbor legislation identifies children bought for sex as victims who are in need of services and support.
That same year we began offering human trafficking awareness and prevention education to youth in Connecticut, reaching thousands of youth across the state. We developed our own curriculum, Not a Number in 2014, and some of the first youth reached by were in Connecticut. Today, Not a Number is being used by hundreds of organizations in dozens of states across the Country.
In 2014, we also started providing Survivor Care services in Connecticut, and through this program we have supported hundreds of victims of child trafficking to-date, reaching youth who’ve been victimized in every county and corner. Since then, responding to needs and the feedback from youth in our care, Love146’s Survivor Care Services have continued to grow serving more youth and adding employment and post-secondary education and other transitional services.
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*For privacy and protection, Love146 changes names and obscures details about our clients, and no identifiable images in our communications are of children known to be exploited.
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