Douglas County proclaims January 2025 Human Trafficking Awareness Month; Willow describes local survivor services

Douglas County’s Board of County Commissioners adopted a proclamation declaring January 2025 Human Trafficking Awareness Month and urged residents to support survivors and prevention efforts.

The proclamation, read by Commissioner Anderson, said survivors are among the most vulnerable and emphasized “the importance of survivor-informed perspectives” in developing recovery and prevention initiatives. It named organizations active in the region, including the Lawrence Police Department, Bert Nash, LMH Health, University of Kansas, the Willow Domestic Violence Center and regional school districts.

The Willow Domestic Violence Center’s domestic violence and human trafficking advocate, Zoe Barlow, told commissioners the Willow has served trafficking survivors in northeast Kansas since 2014 and that it covers a multi-county service area. "The Willow provides shelter, support, and services to survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence in Douglas, Franklin, and Jefferson Counties," Barlow said. She told the board the Willow’s human trafficking program serves an additional nine counties in northeastern Kansas and cautioned that trafficking is often misrepresented in popular media.

Barlow described the patterns staff see with clients: "Traffickers will often groom someone by connecting with them, learning about their vulnerabilities, and exploiting those vulnerabilities. Traffickers take advantage of vulnerabilities such as lack of housing, lack of support systems, and food insecurity." She said trafficking can involve sexual and labor exploitation, and that traffickers may be intimate partners, friends or family members.

Barlow reported that in 2024 the Willow provided services to 21 survivors of human trafficking, offering help ranging from safe shelter to court advocacy and case management. She said the agency will continue to combat trafficking through direct services, community collaboration and prevention work.

The proclamation calls on Douglas County residents to "speak out against sex and labor trafficking and exploitation, to support survivors, to hold offenders accountable, and to make prevention efforts a priority by hosting events, creating workplace and school policies, and supporting programs designed to reduce human trafficking." The board adopted the proclamation and arranged to sign and distribute it.

The Willow and other named organizations provide local points of contact for survivors and community prevention work; the proclamation and the agency remarks did not propose new county funding or policy changes at this meeting.

Looking ahead, the board indicated it will keep survivors’ perspectives in mind for county initiatives related to human trafficking and domestic violence.