TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – CareSource, a Medicaid healthcare company, and survivors of human trafficking shared their stories during a summit at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library Wednesday morning.
When CareSource discovered a large portion of Medicaid members are victims of human trafficking, it began investigating why.
It found that having access to healthcare plans can positively impact victims and survivors.
Lisa Lucchesi, human trafficking and criminal justice lead at CareSource, says she learned of the phenomenon years ago.
“Years ago, I had created a program alongside of the Phoenix Police Department and that is where we seen that the amount of members that were Medicaid recipients was very large that had also been traffic victims,” she says. “This is a very significant problem we have in this country and no states, no towns, no cities are left undone.”
A person being trafficked may show signs of their exploitation, like physical injury or behaving in ways that seem strange, but other threats are less physical in nature.
Lecchesi says it’s important to get ahead of potential victimization, such as the online targeting of child victims.
”A lot of kids are lured into the sex trade by online activity by perpetrators,” says Lucchesi. “Knowing the vulnerable populations, knowing how to lure them in — traffickers are very, very suave. They know what they are doing when it comes to being predators. If we could get ahead of this and really bring awareness to children and to our young teenagers and so forth, I mean really I think that’s gonna be the key. “
Meghan Connors is a survivor of child sexual exploitation and trafficking of more than three decades. She shared a message of hope for victims and survivors at Wednesday mornings summit.
“It can be really hard to get out of it and it can feel like there are no options to get out, and I definitely felt that way for a very long time, but I am living proof that there are options to get out and that you can have a life that is full that… that is full of relationships, that’s full of love, that is full of support. My dreams were very limited and my hope was preyed upon. Anything I hoped for was used to keep me under coercive control, but it is that same hope that I have now that I can live my way into whatever my best case scenario is.”
There are several indicators that a person may have fallen victim to human trafficking or other forms of exploitation. Information about how to spot human trafficking and what you can do to intervene can be found on the Department of Homeland Security’s website for the Blue Campaign.
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