Breaking the Cycle of Trafficking and Exploitation

In Colombia, ITLI worked with children and young adults who had experienced some of the most difficult circumstances a person can face, including trafficking, abuse, family separation, and life within the orphanage system.

For many of these young people, being rescued or placed in an orphanage was only the beginning of their journey. Eventually, they would leave the system and be expected to navigate adulthood on their own. Without preparation, healthy relationships, practical skills, employment, or a stable place to transition into, that independence could leave them vulnerable to the same kinds of people and circumstances they had already escaped.

We wanted to help change what happened between those two points. To prepare them for what came after.

Preparing for Life Beyond the System

What does a young person actually need to build a healthy, independent life?

The answer went far beyond education.

Young people needed to understand healthy relationships and boundaries so they could recognize unhealthy or abusive patterns and make different choices in the future. Many were also carrying wounds from family relationships, abuse, or experiences connected to trafficking. Creating space to understand those experiences and begin working through them was an important part of preparing them for healthy relationships and independent life.

Alongside this, they needed practical skills that could help them find work, manage money, communicate professionally, and eventually support themselves.

The program therefore brought together personal development, education, professional preparation, and practical support rather than treating each need separately.

Learning the Skills to Move Forward

Classes covered healthy relationships, professional and entrepreneurial skills, English, and computer skills.

The goal was not simply to give students information, but to expand what they could imagine for their own future and give them practical tools to pursue it.

We also worked with children and young people with special needs, developing classes and activities that could be adapted to their individual abilities and learning needs. Their education was not treated as an afterthought or a separate version of the program. The goal was to find ways for each person to develop the skills and confidence appropriate to them.

Seeing What Is Possible

Life inside an orphanage can be extremely isolating. Young people may have limited exposure to the wider professional world and little opportunity to see what kinds of careers, workplaces, and futures might actually be available to them.

To broaden that perspective, we developed a monthly Career Day.

Each month, a professional from a different field would come and talk about their work, demonstrate what they did, answer questions, and allow the young people to see a career from the inside.

Over time, the students were introduced to a much wider range of possibilities.

For someone whose experience of the world had been limited, simply discovering that there were careers and paths they had never considered could change the way they imagined their future.

A Safe Place to Transition

Preparation inside the orphanage was important, but eventually the young people still had to leave.

For some, that transition meant going directly from a highly structured and protected environment into independent adulthood with very little experience managing life on their own. We therefore established a transition home to provide a safer bridge between the two.

The home offered more than somewhere to live.

While there, young adults received mentorship and practical guidance as they learned to manage the responsibilities of independent life. They received assistance with finding work, preparing for interviews, understanding professional conduct, and navigating the workplace.

They also received guidance in budgeting and stewarding their money, learning how to manage what they earned rather than simply earning a paycheck.

As graduation from the program approached, the focus shifted toward long-term independence, including finding stable housing and preparing for life after the transition home.

The relationship did not necessarily end when someone moved out. Continued mentorship provided an additional layer of support as graduates established themselves independently.

From Preparation to Employment

For many young people, employment was one of the most important steps toward independence.

The job placement side of the program worked with young adults both inside and outside the transition home, including people leaving the orphanage and individuals with disabilities who needed additional assistance entering the workforce.

The process began with understanding the individual: their skills, abilities, interests, experience, and limitations. From there, the goal was to identify work that was not simply available, but was a realistic fit for that particular person.

Participants received guidance in searching for positions, preparing applications, interviewing, and understanding professional expectations. They were taught how to present themselves professionally and how to recognize the skills they already possessed.

For someone who had spent much of their life being told what would happen next, learning to identify their own abilities and make decisions about their future was itself an important part of becoming independent.

Every part of the project was connected.

Education helped young people understand themselves and the world around them. Healthy relationship training helped them recognize patterns that could place them at risk of future abuse or exploitation. Professional training gave them practical skills. Career exposure widened their understanding of what was possible. The transition home provided a safe environment to practice independence. Job placement connected skills with actual employment. Mentorship provided continued support while they learned to navigate adulthood.

Together, these pieces were designed to reduce the vulnerabilities that could make young people susceptible to traffickers, gangs, abusive relationships, or others seeking to exploit them.

The objective was never simply to help someone leave an orphanage.

It was to help them build a life they could safely remain in.

Once the project was established and functioning, we were able to transition responsibility to local people who had been trained and were qualified to oversee and continue the work.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse