DVHT Client Definitions - ATIMS

Definitions for Client Enrollment, Service Delivery, and Exit

Enrollment occurs when a victim of human trafficking is entered into the program to receive comprehensive case management services. This includes occasions when a victim reconnects to the program after a period of absence and the case is reopened.

Exit or disenrollment occurs when a client separates from the program and is no longer receiving comprehensive case management services. This may occur when the client completes the program or for a variety of other reasons.

Clients are those individuals enrolled in OTIP funded programs such as the Trafficking Victim Assistance Programs or Domestic Victims of Human Trafficking (DVHT) Programs. United States citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents who have experienced human trafficking are eligible to enroll in DVHT Programs including the

• Domestic Victims of Human Trafficking Services and Outreach Program

• Victims of Human Trafficking in Native Communities Program

Human Trafficking¹ is a crime involving the exploitation of someone to perform labor or commercial sex acts through force, fraud, or coercion.

• Sex Trafficking occurs when someone is induced to perform a commercial sex act through force, fraud, or coercion – or when the person providing the act is 17 years old or younger.

• Labor Trafficking occurs when someone is recruited, harbored, transported, provided, or obtained for labor or services through force, fraud, or coercion to subject them to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.

Contents

Definitions for Client Enrollment, Service Delivery, and Exit 1

Disability 2

Housing 2

Industries and Venues 3

Services and Benefits 8

Disability

Disability² is defined as the product of interactions among individuals’ bodies; their physical, emotional, and mental health; and the physical and social environment in which they live, work, or play. Disability exists where this interaction results in limitations of activities and restrictions to full participation at school, at work, at home, or in the community (Institute of Medicine and International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health).

• Hearing difficulty is being deaf or having serious difficulty hearing.

• Vision difficulty is being blind or having serious difficulty seeing, even when wearing glasses.

• Cognitive difficulty is having difficulty remembering, concentrating, or making decisions because of a physical, mental, or emotional problem.

• Ambulatory difficulty is having serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs.

• Self-care difficulty is having difficulty bathing or dressing.

• Independent living difficulty is having difficulty doing errands alone such as visiting a doctor’s office or shopping because of a physical, mental, or emotional problem.

Housing

Emergency Housing is any facility whose primary purpose is to provide temporary or transitional shelter for the homeless in general or for specific populations of the homeless (e.g., domestic violence shelters, human trafficking shelters, etc.).

Institutional Housing³ is any facility whose primary purpose is to provide 24-hour care, treatment, and/or supervision. This includes psychiatric treatment facilities, juvenile detention centers, jails, prisons, foster care home settings, substance abuse treatment facilities, detox centers, long-term care facilities, and nursing homes.

Permanent Housing⁴ is community-based housing with no time limit on how long an individual can reside in the housing or receive housing assistance, living as independently as possible. This includes Permanent Supportive Housing as well as housing owned or rented by the client.

Transitional Housing is designed to provide homeless individuals and families with the interim stability and support to successfully move to and maintain permanent housing. Transitional housing is time limited with clients staying up to 24 months in the housing, typically with accompanying supportive services. Individuals must have a lease (or sublease) or occupancy agreement in place when residing in transitional housing.

Industries and Venues

Trafficking Exploitation Industry/Venue: This data element describes the industry through which, or venue where, the client experienced trafficking exploitation to provide commercial sex acts or labor/services. The industry or venue can be formally recognized, or family owned.

Agriculture/Field Labor: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to grow crops or cultivate soil. Includes: Farming operations that are not legally or formally recognized as businesses, such as agriculture on family-owned lands.

Auto-Mechanic/Auto-Shop/Car Repair: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to repair or maintain a motor vehicle of any type, including diagnostic testing, inspections, cleaning, and cosmetic improvements.

Arts/Entertainment: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to provide recreational entertainment or art, including modeling and the performing arts.

Bar/Cantina/Nightclub: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked through an establishment that serves alcohol/drinks as their primary business product.

Begging/Peddling: This value should be selected if the client was made to beg for money or ask strangers for donations that primarily benefit their exploiters. Includes: begging/peddling in exchange for quick or time-limited services such as selling candy or car window-washing at stoplights where the primary purpose of the labor is to beg or peddle and not necessarily to provide a good or service.

Carnival: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to provide entertainment through traveling oddity and wonder shows or performances. This value should be selected if the client was a carnival performer or if the client supported the carnival through sale of retail goods/tickets, animal caretaking, event management tasks.

Carpentry/Woodworking: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to make or repair any object made of wood. IMPORTANT NOTE: This industry should not be confused with Construction. If the primary work performed involved the development of the land and installation of building materials, select Construction.

Childcare includes encounters between the client’s child or children and childcare provider including babysitters, daycare, Early Head Start, Head Start, after and/or before school care, day camps, etc. This includes assistance securing childcare, funding provided for childcare, and referrals to childcare providers. 

Cobbling: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to assemble, repair, or make modifications to shoes.

Commercial Cleaning: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to provide janitorial or out-call cleaning services for commercial or public properties. IMPORTANT NOTE: This includes businesses like Merry Maids but does not refer to housekeeping staff at a hotel (Hotel/Hospitality).

Commercial Sex: This value should be selected if the client was recruited, harbored, transported, provided, obtained, patronized, or solicited for the purpose of engaging in a sex act in exchange for something of value. For minor clients, this value should be selected any time the client is offered anything of value in exchange for a sex act, even if engagement sex act does not take place. IMPORTANT NOTE: If the Type of Commercial Sex is known, please be sure to specify.

Construction: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to provide improvements to real estate or infrastructure through building, repairs, or demolition. IMPORTANT NOTE: This industry should not be confused with private interior household repair like handyman services (Domestic Work).

Domestic Work: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to provide childcare, housekeeping, household repair, or other household duties to an employer or family member. IMPORTANT NOTE: Household repair includes things like providing “handyman” services or backyard gardening but should not be confused with specialized lawn care (Landscaping) or other contracted work home improvement work (Construction).

Elder Care: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to provide non-medical daily needs or to fulfill other caregiver duties for the elderly or otherwise vulnerable adults.

Escort Services: This value should be selected if the client was supplied to buyers to provide commercial sex or romantic companionship; OR, the client primarily provided commercial sex services on an “out-call” basis, meeting clients at various locations such as hotels or private residences.

Factories/Manufacturing: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to package food or merchandise to be sold; OR, to provide any other type of type of industrial factory-oriented labor.

Financial Assistance are encounters when a service provider gives direct assistance to a client through cash, check, gift card, etc. to meet their unmet basic needs. This does not include funds provided to pay a client’s rent or utilities (see Housing/Shelter Services)

Fishing: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to catch/obtain fish, shellfish, or other sea life from a natural body of water (i.e., ocean, bay, gulf, etc.); OR to harvest aquatic animals or plants in controlled or selected aquatic environments.

Forced Criminal Activities: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked when providing labor or services that contribute to an illegal/illicit business operation. Includes: assault, arms smuggling/dealing, decoy services, extortion, financial scams, human smuggling/foot guiding, drug cultivation/production, drug transporting/distribution, drug smuggling, look-out/scouting, robbery, and wildlife smuggling, etc.

Forestry/Logging: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to create, cultivate, manage, use, transport, carry and/or repair forests, trees, or tree products such as wood for recreational or commercial use.

Garment/Textiles: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to use, alter, repair, or make modifications to a variety of fabrics, both man-made and natural fibers, as well as leather, fur, metals, and plastic.

Health/Beauty: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to provide cosmetology-related services to clients. Includes: acupuncture services, hair salon/barber shop services, hair braiding, and nail salon services.

Health Care: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to provide medical care to patients. Includes: doula/midwife services, CNA/GNA work, home health care services, residential care facility services, etc.

Herding Livestock/Animal Husbandry: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to care for and raise animals for their byproducts.

Hotel/Hospitality: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to provide lodging or other temporary accommodations to customers. Includes: front desk/front of housework and in-house housekeeping. IMPORTANT NOTE: This venue should not be confused with Commercial Cleaning and does not refer to tourist attractions Ski Resorts/Casinos (Recreation/Sports) or Cruise Ships (Transportation). This value should NOT be selected if a minor was induced to engage in a commercial sex act within a Hotel/Motel. In this situation, Exploitation Industry should be Commercial Sex and Commercial Sex Venue should be Commercial Space-Based.

Illicit Massage/Health: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked through a business that claimed to offer legitimate health/beauty/spa services, but whose true purpose is providing commercial sex services to clients. Includes: massage parlors, nail salons, acupressure shops, spas, etc.

Landscaping: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to modify the aesthetic features of land. Includes: Commercial gardening, grass cutting, hedge trimming, etc.

Mining/Quarrying: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to harvest of coal or other minerals, oil, fuel, or gas.

Other (specify): This value should be selected if the client described a trafficking situation that does not reasonably fit into any of the other venues/industries provided.

Peer-to-Peer Support and Mentoring are encounters between a client and their peers (e.g., individuals who have shared a similar experience of human trafficking and/or substance use) to provide support, share knowledge, and/or work toward recovery through peer-led support groups, one-on-one coaching, mentoring programs, etc

Personal Sexual Servitude: This value should be selected if the client was heavily controlled (and usually confined) for the sole purpose of providing personal sexual services to one/specific person(s).

Production of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM): This value should be selected if the client was induced to provide or produce visual material depicting sexually explicit displays, sexual activity, or sexual abuse, intended to erotically stimulate a person or through a business that produces such material. Includes: pornography, sextortion or revenge pornography, image-based abuse (nude photos), etc.

Recreation/Sports: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked through a business that provides a venue for patrons to partake in amusement or leisure or through athletic leagues or teams. Includes: casinos, ski resorts, pools, amusement/theme parks, recreational camps, golf courses, racetracks, family-owned gambling businesses, etc.

Religious Institution: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked through a spiritual or religious institution or organization.

Restaurant/Food Service: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked through a business primarily engaged in selling prepared food. The industry or venue can be formally recognized, or family owned. Includes: fast food, sit-down restaurants, food/ice cream trucks, food stands, etc.

Retail Sales: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked through a business primarily engaged in selling merchandise. This value should also be selected for informal sales and family business street retail sales.

Stripping/Dancing: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to remove their clothing and provide dance performances. IMPORTANT NOTE: This value should not be confused with Bar/Club/Cantina – a venue whose primary business purpose is the sale of alcoholic beverages.

Transportation: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to facilitate the movement of passengers and cargo, the warehousing and movement of goods, scenic and sightseeing transportation, or any related support activities. Includes: cruise ships, shipping, trucking, etc.

Traveling Sales Crew: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked through a business where salespersons/potential victims travel in groups to various cities/states to sell items such as magazines or cleaning supplies. IMPORTANT NOTE: This industry should not be confused with Begging/Peddling.

Waste Management/Recycling: This value should be selected if the client was trafficked to dispose of any form of waste. This value should be selected if the child was employed in a formal or informal capacity and should be interpreted broadly. Includes: collection, landfill, transfer, waste-to-energy, or recycling services, etc.

Not Reported: This value should be selected if the exploitation industry through which, or venue where, a client was exploited to provide commercial sex acts or labor/services is not known or is not reported.

Commercial Sex Venue: This value describes the venue where the client was induced to engage in commercial sex.

Commercial Space-Based: This value should be selected if the client was induced to engage in commercial sex within or through a commercial space. This value should be selected regardless of whether these businesses, or their associated agents, employees, or staff were involved in, or aware of, trafficking occurring on-site or within the business. IMPORTANT NOTE: For all sex trafficking situations, if the exploitation industry is known, all relevant field values for both Exploitation Industry and Commercial Sex Venue should be selected. Example: if a client was induced to engage in commercial sex within a cantina, Bar/Club/Cantina and Commercial Sex should be selected for Exploitation Industry and Commercial Space-Based should be selected for Commercial Sex Venue.

Institution-Based: This value should be selected if the client was induced to engage in commercial sex within or through a formal facility or organization of a public character in which people live and/or receive care. This value should be selected regardless of whether these institutions, or their associated employees or staff were involved in, or aware of, trafficking occurring on-site or within the institution. This should be selected regardless of the institution’s fiduciary relationships or how the institution is funded. Examples of Institutions: immigration facilities, detention facilities, educational facilities, child welfare agencies, shelters, transitional housing, or other nonprofit housing providers, etc.

Technology-Based: This value should be selected if the client was induced to engage in commercial sex, or to produce sexually explicit digital content or child sexual abuse material for the purposes of online, digital, virtual, or other technology-based distribution. This value should be used when the commercial sex act is advertised or viewable by online users (through mobile applications, social media or gaming platforms, or websites), or when content is shared digitally (via text message, video cassettes, or analog video recording). The actual location of where the sex act will take place or where the child sexual abuse material is created does not need to be known. This value should be selected regardless of whether the website, application, or other technological hosts, or their associated administrators were involved in, or aware of, trafficking occurring on their platform. IMPORTANT NOTE: For all sex trafficking situations, if the exploitation industry is known, all relevant field values for both Exploitation Industry and Commercial Sex Venue should be selected. Example: if a client was induced to produce child sexual abuse material that was distributed online, Production of Child Sexual Abuse Material and Commercial Sex should be selected for Exploitation Industry and Internet-Based should be selected for Commercial Sex Venue.

Outdoor/Street-Based: This value should be selected if the client was induced to engage in commercial sex along a track, stroll, block, along a smuggling route, or through any outdoor or street-based venue. Examples: any commercial or recreational vehicle motor vehicle not used as a residence including cars, trucks, vans, RVs, caravans, trucks or truck stops, parks, fields, vacant or otherwise condemned properties, outdoor recreational facilities like basketball courts or football fields.

Residence-Based: This value should be selected if the client was induced to engage in a commercial sex within a non-commercial private residence. The residence does not need to be a fixed, regular, and/or adequate nighttime residence for any occupants. IMPORTANT NOTE: if the residence is part of a residential facility, or institution-based or affiliated entity, please select Institution-Based. Examples: private domiciles or residences such as houses, apartments, condominiums, townhomes, RVs, or trailers, smuggling safe houses, warehouses, or ransom houses, drug production/distribution homes sometimes referred to as “trap houses” or “drug houses”, etc. Not Reported: This value should be selected if the venue where the client was induced to engage in a commercial sex act is not known or was not reported.

Services and Benefits

Basic Necessities are encounters between a client and service provider in which a client is provided directly with items needed for daily living or with funds to purchase said items. This includes providing clients with personal care items such as shampoo, conditioner, soap, lotion, clothing, feminine hygiene products, and food.

Case Management is an encounter between a case management provider and a client during which services are provided that assist clients in the management of their health and social needs, including client needs assessments, the establishment of service plans, and the maintenance of referral, tracking, and follow-up systems. This also includes assisting clients in understanding their rights and advocating on their behalf with referral partners.

Crisis Intervention⁵ includes encounters in which a client or potential client in crisis receives interventions and services. This includes assistance or referrals provided for client emergencies as well as the provision of intervention techniques by a service provider aimed at alleviating emotional distress.

Dental Health Services are encounters between a client and a practitioner for the purpose of assessing or treating a dental problem. This includes encounters between a dentist or dental hygienist and a patient for the purpose of prevention, assessment, or treatment of a dental problem, including restoration.

Education Services are encounters in which a client accesses educational courses in an informal, traditional, or online setting. This includes English as a Second Language (ESL) courses, General Education courses, GED test preparation, and enrollment in higher education. These courses can be directly provided by the grant recipient or through a referral.

Employment Assistance includes encounters between a client and service provider in which they receive assistance in finding and securing employment. This may include interview preparation, assistance in job hunting or resume building, or engagement in job placement programs. This can be directly provided by the grant recipient or through a referral.

Family Reunification are encounters between a client and service provider or on behalf of a client (with their consent) in which efforts are made to reunify the client with their family members in the United States. This may include making phone calls to arrange family reunification, holding meetings to prepare for family reunification, and assisting clients in obtaining and completing any necessary reunification paperwork.

Housing/Shelter Services are encounters between a client and service provider to assist the client in securing and maintaining housing. This may include full or partial payment of a client's rent or utilities, enrollment in housing programs or housing units, completion of housing related paperwork, and assistance with the client's housing search.

Interpreter/Translator Services are encounters between a translator or interpreter and client to assess service needs and/or to provide services to a client. This includes the use of language lines for interpretation services. 

Legal Advocacy and Services are generally encounters between a client and an attorney or paralegal to discuss the client's rights and legal options or to follow through on legal remedies. This may include expunging criminal records because of the trafficking experience or assistance with civil or family court issues. This may also include using program funds to provide 'know your rights' presentations to facilitate legal representation by private attorneys willing to act on behalf of clients pro bono. However, program funding cannot be used for criminal defense attorney services.

Life Skills are encounters between a client and service provider to develop skills necessary for full participation in everyday life. This includes assisting clients in learning how to do laundry, navigate public transportation, maintain personal hygiene, develop healthy relationships, enact conflict resolution, and cook healthy and balanced meals.

Medical Services are encounters between a client and a physician, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or nurse for the purpose of assessing or treating a medical problem.

Medicaid is health insurance available to low-income individuals and families.

Mental /Behavioral Health Services are encounters between a licensed mental health provider (psychiatrist, psychologist, LCSW, and certain other master’s prepared mental health providers licensed by specific states) or an unlicensed mental health provider credentialed by the center, and a client, during which mental health services (i.e., services of a psychiatric, psychological, psychosocial, or crisis intervention nature) are provided. Clinicians and Hospitals use diagnostic codes from the DSM-5 for insurance purposes.

Other Services are encounters between a provider, other than those listed above, and a client during which other forms of services are provided.

Safety Planning is an encounter between a client and service provider in which they develop a practical plan to avoid and react to dangerous situations. This plan should be based on the specific needs of each client.

Section 8 is the Housing Choice Voucher Program which assists low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled to afford safe housing in the private market.

SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as SNAP, which provides food-purchasing assistance to individuals and families.

SSDI is Social Security Disability Insurance, a type of financial assistance provided to workers who become disabled before reaching retirement age.

SSI is Supplemental Security Income, a type of financial assistance provided to low-income people who are aged 65 or older, blind, or disabled.

Substance Use Assessment/Treatment Services are encounters between a substance abuse provider (e.g., credentialed substance abuse counselor, rehabilitation therapist, psychologist) and a client during which alcohol or drug abuse services (i.e., assessment and diagnosis, treatment, aftercare) are provided.

TANF is the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program, formerly known as welfare, which provides financial assistance to pregnant women and families with one or more dependent children.

Transportation Services are encounters in which a service provider provides a client with the necessary resources to access transportation which enables clients to access services. This includes providing clients with bus/rail passes, cabs/cab vouchers, or gas assistance. This may occur with the service provider purchasing transportation on behalf of the client, providing clients with gifts cards to the same purpose, or providing clients with cash to purchase transportation themselves.

Victim Advocacy is an encounter between a client and service provider in which the client is provided information and support to help them understand and exercise their rights as a victim of crime within the criminal justice process.

WIC is the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, which provides nutrition assistance to low-income pregnant women, breastfeeding women, infants, and children under the age of five.

1 22 U.S.C. § 7102(11)

2 Disability - American Community Survey (ACS) - People and Households - U.S. Census Bureau. (2016). Census.gov. Retrieved 20 November 2016, from http://www.census.gov/people/disability/methodology/acs.html

3 Department of Health and Human Services. Administration for Children and Families. Children’s Bureau. AFCARS Data Elements, https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-02-09/pdf/2015-02354.pdf

4 Department of Housing and Urban Development. HMIS Data Standards, https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/HMIS-Data-Standards-Manual.pdf

5 Department of Justice. OVC TIMS Online Service Provision Terms and Units of Measurement.

5