Dear Partners,

This month, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) observed World Day Against Child Labor by spotlighting and encouraging those, who could, to join the Within and Beyond Our Borders: Collective Action to Address Hazardous Child Labor organized by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on June 12, 2023. If you missed it, or would like to rewatch it, you can find it here

.

Since 2018, the DOL has seen a 69 percent increase in children being employed illegally by companies. In the last fiscal year, the department found that 835 companies it investigated had employed more than 3,800 children in violation of labor laws. There has been a 26 percent increase in children employed in hazardous occupations. These numbers tell us that we have work to do as the human services sector to learn more and become engaged in preventing unlawful child labor and supporting youth.

As I have said before, child labor exploitation can disrupt a youth’s health, safety, education, and overall well-being, which are unacceptable consequences for any child. The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) supports a broad network of resources for vulnerable youth. We know that migrant and immigrant youth are especially vulnerable to exploitation, and it is often youth in or exiting the child welfare system who are targeted for various forms of exploitation. Child labor exploitation can impact children and youth across demographics.

On March 24, 2023, the DOL and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a Memorandum of Agreement - PDF

to advance ongoing efforts to address child labor exploitation.  In addition, DOL and HHS are collaborating on training and educational materials.

As we expand this work, we know how important our partners throughout the country are in this effort. The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is committed to addressing the increased presence of child labor exploitation through a variety of actions including equipping partners with materials and educational resources to build knowledge about child labor laws and rights, and remedies. This information is important for our human services sector and the children and families who may be most at risk.

Please join ACF in increasing awareness and distributing resources to address child labor exploitation including the following:

ACF resources may be also useful when working with a youth who has concerns about their safety. This includes the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB)’s program on Runaway and Homeless Youth which provides a hotline for youth, concerned adults, and providers to access resources. At, www.1800runaway.org

, their 24/7 crisis connection allows for calls, texts, live chat, and email to get information and resources.

In addition, ACF’s Office of Trafficking In-Persons (OTIP) is an important resource for identifying and supporting survivors of trafficking. The National Human Trafficking Hotline

provides a 24/7, confidential, multilingual hotline for victims, survivors, and witnesses of human trafficking. While labor exploitation should not be conflated with labor trafficking, in some cases labor exploitation may rise to meet the legal definitions of trafficking. The OTIP website

contains many resources for grantees and communities on labor trafficking.

Again, I hope you will continue to build awareness for yourself, your organization, or your community on child labor exploitation. It takes a whole community effort to support our children and youth.

Most sincerely,

January Contreras

Metadata-only record linking to the original dataset. Open original dataset below.