TVAP

Shared Beginnings is an approved U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) Trafficking Victim Assistance Program (TVAP) provider. TVAP clients are screened by an independent immigration attorney prior to their acceptance into the program. Our connections with the Arkansas Justice Collective, Herrera Law Firm and the University of Arkansas Law School allow us to provide these screenings.

Once accepted into the program, our TVAP team provides trauma-informed, person-centered, comprehensive case management services to Marshallese women who are victims of adoption human trafficking. Our services can include but are not limited to: housing/utility assistance, financial planning, ESL classes, life skills training, and Driver’s Education. The goal of this program is to see victims of trafficking be empowered to build strong and lasting relationships while striving toward stability.

Shared Beginnings began providing this program in late 2019, early 2020 when an adoption attorney licensed in Arkansas was arrested on a myriad of federal charges across multiple states. Over the last 2 years, within just a few hour radius of Northwest Arkansas, over 130 women have come into our program as victims of Adoption Labor Trafficking. This means in some way they were forced or coerced into placing their child for adoption against their will.