Central Wisconsin Shelter Focuses On Sex Trafficking

A central Wisconsin domestic abuse shelter is hiring an expert to focus on human trafficking, thanks to the availability of a grant.

Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery, often involving underage victims, according to Jane Graham Jennings, the executive director of The Women’s Community in Wausau.

“A lot of times, young people that are trafficked are more vulnerable than other people, and they are taken out of homes where they’ve been sexually abused,” said Jennings.

Jennings said the young victims may be treated well at first, but that often changes.

“There are threats. Sometimes they use drugs and other substances to keep them under their control so they can just pimp them out,” she said.

Jennings said the human trafficking expert is being hired thanks to a multi-year grant by private donors. She said there’s a need for such specialists in other Wisconsin communities, but that funding is often a problem.