One call to Cast’s 24/7 Human Trafficking Hotline is all it takes.
Once that call is made, we are ready to respond. Cast receives around 200 urgent calls to our hotline each month. When we receive a call, staff jump into action. As the country’s largest service provider to human trafficking survivors, we offer wrap-around services that allow for emergency response, health assessments, case management, legal services, shelter and housing. We provide specialized services tailored to the needs of survivors. It all starts with a call, but this critical lifeline is now in danger.
Major funding for the hotline comes from a Department of Justice grant that expired yesterday. The federal budget for grants supporting survivors has already been approved, but the funds have not yet been released. Cast’s grant is only one of more than 100 from dozens of victim service providers nationally that have now lost funding for critical, life-changing services. As of today, the DOJ has not shared any funding opportunities to replace these grants.
Today, thousands of human trafficking survivors nationwide have lost access to life-saving services. Many providers will have to close their doors. Survivors will end up on the street. They will struggle to feed their families. They will no longer have a lawyer to help them navigate our complex legal system. And this is just the beginning of the harm they will endure.
When survivors don’t have services, their risk of being re-trafficked increases astronomically. Without these funds – made law through the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the Department of Justice is handing traffickers a prime opportunity to exploit vulnerable people.
This funding needs to be released immediately to restore survivor services and reduce the time survivors go unsupported. Every day counts when a survivor’s safety is on the line.
We need YOUR help! Please take one minute to contact the Department of Justice leadership TODAY to demand that they restore survivor services and release the funds: https://www.freedomunited.org/advocate/release-the-funds/.
Please help Cast keep our hotline open, because survivors can’t wait.
