Lake County group strives to prevent human trafficking

May 19—Made up of a group of volunteers, the Lake County Collaborative to End Human Trafficking had its eighth multidisciplinary team meeting this week.

To collaborate and coordinate efforts to combat human trafficking among local, county, state and federal agencies, as well as non-government partners, the group gathered on May 19 in Kirtland Hills.

"Sometimes we go with a theme and today it was shelter and services, but we've had a variety of speakers over the past year," said Carolyn Kinkoph, co-founder and volunteer for the Lake County Collaborative to End Human Trafficking, and a survivor mother of a human trafficking victim. "Sister Anne (Sister Anne Victory, director of education for the Collaborative to End Human Trafficking) spoke at our first meeting, we've had support of the Ohio Attorney General's Office, we've had the U.S. Marshal's Office talk about missing children and we've had survivors speak.

"We believe that survivors should not be exploited," she added. "They should not speak for free. Unfortunately, we are not a nonprofit yet, so we do what we can to help them along their journey to not further exploit them because we really do think their voice matters."

At the meeting, people from several Ohio counties, as well as people outside the state, attended in-person and virtually, Kinkoph said.

Jennifer Taber, director of programming, and Hannah Swift, supervising case manager, of Gracehaven, provided information regarding their Cleveland team's case management resources for children and youth human trafficking survivors in Northeast Ohio.

Gracehaven is a Columbus-based nonprofit that serves youth and families through a team of workers, and like-minded partners by providing sex trafficking prevention services. According to Gracehaven, more than 1,100 Ohio children and teens are coerced into the world of child sex trafficking every year.

In addition, Laura Bartchak, co-founder and director of the Harriet Tubman Movement, presented the impact of the advocacy group. In collaboration with agency partners to provide emergency services, the group has explored long-term restoration needs of people who have been subjected to sex trafficking, prostitution or other forms of exploitation, regardless of location.

Kinkoph, alongside Jenna Bing and Kathy Goellmitz, started the Lake County collaborative in 2020. The group had its first meeting in March 2021 and has had bi-monthly meetings since.

"Our hope is to connect services," Kinkoph said. "We don't provide services, but simply raise education and network to connect law enforcement, fire, EMS, educators, healthcare workers, mental health care workers and policy makers in Lake County, Northeast Ohio and beyond to help combat human trafficking."

There is an intersection between mental illness, substance abuse and human trafficking, Kinkoph said. Her 29-year-old daughter, Courtney, was a victim of all three, she said.

"She first started going missing around 2016 and had gone missing several times over the past few years," Kinkoph said. "She had several encounters with law enforcement, but she could never break the cycle. Unfortunately, she went missing in November of 2021 from a group home run by a state mental hospital staff and was found deceased in an abandoned apartment in Cleveland in February of this year."

In joining the fight for advocacy and learning as much as she can about human trafficking because she couldn't understand what was happening to her daughter, Kinkoph said that one of the quotes she's learned is, "Your eyes can't see what your brain doesn't know."

"That's anonymous, but if you see something, say something," she said. "Reach out to law enforcement, call 911, call the Cuyahoga Regional Human Trafficking task force, call the National Human Trafficking hotline because it really could save a life."

Kinkoph was recently accepted into Cleveland State University's Urban Studies Policy program to pursue her doctorate.

"My hope is to continue to educate, raise awareness and teach at a college level to continue to raise awareness," Kinkoph said. "One life lost is one too many."