Victims and survivors of human trafficking have multiple social service needs. In the United States, anti-human trafficking policies provide several services for this population. The service needs of trafficked persons have been studied extensively. However, very little is known about patterns of service utilization and factors associated with service utilization among trafficked persons.

By reviewing case records, this exploratory study examined the patterns of service utilization and factors associated with service utilization among pre-certified victims of human trafficking. Data were collected from a social service agency providing services to victims and survivors of human trafficking located in New York City. The Andersen-Newman model of service utilization guided the examination of the predisposing, enabling and need factors associated with service utilization.

The descriptive results of this study were somewhat representative of the target population. An overwhelming majority of the sample was women, the average age was about 29 years i.e. they were in their most productive years, most of them did not have proper immigration documents at the time of intake, most of them originated from Tier 2 and Tier 2 Waitlist countries which included countries with weak anti-human trafficking laws, and there was almost an equal distribution of those who were trafficked for labor and those trafficked for sexual purposes.

Among the predisposing factors, only country of origin was found to be significantly associated with the use of information and referral services. Among the enabling factors, a significant relationship was found between referral source and the use of mental health services. Among the need factors, type of trafficking was associated with the use of mental health services and information and referral services. Type of trafficking was also related to the number of services used. Those trafficked for sexual purposes used significantly fewer services compared with those trafficked for labor.

Multivariate analysis indicated that predisposing factors and enabling factors did not have any effect on the total number of services use. Need factor, i.e. type of trafficking was the only predictor of the total number of services utilized. Being trafficked for sexual purposes resulted in the use of fewer services compared with those who were trafficked for labor. Based on these findings, implications for research, social work practice and policy are discussed.