The National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project (NIWAP) at the American University/Washington College of Law, working in partnership with the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) is launching a National Judicial Network: Forum on Human Trafficking and Immigration in State Courts (“The Network”).
The Network will provide a forum for judges to engage in peer-to-peer learning sessions with judges from across the country, participate in webinars, communicate with other judges in a member-only confidential Listserv, access topic-specific publications, and attend future in-person trainings on issues that arise in state courts involving human trafficking and immigrant victims. The Network Forums are intended to help judges learn more about these complicated issues and, consequently, improve access to justice for human trafficking and immigrant victims of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, and other crimes.
NIWAP is inviting judges to join bi-monthly, peer-to-peer virtual learning sessions on the first Tuesday of every other month from 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. EST. Each session will be led by a judicial facilitator, with topics set in advance by The Network’s steering committee. The first peer-to-peer session will be March 2, 2021, 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. EST. During the first session, NIWAP will discuss the purpose of The Network, one of whose objectives is to identify best practices and tools that NIWAP can develop under its SJI grant. You will hear from experienced judges about the goals of The Network, including the development of live webinar trainings, which can be uploaded and shared with your local jurisdiction. As a member of The Network, you will be invited to participate in a Network members-only confidential Listserv through which you can communicate with other judges about human trafficking and immigration law issues that arise in your court or other state court cases.
If you are interested in joining The Network, please register through this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VGY9VJM
Registrants will receive regular updates and registration information for peer-to-peer sessions, the confidential Listserv, and webinars/trainings.
NIWAP also has a current SJI grant is titled, Human Trafficking Victims: Developing Training and Tools for Courts. Under this grant, NIWAP is developing materials on human trafficking, providing technical assistance, and offering pilot trainings for state court judges and judicial employees on human trafficking and the T Visa. To view current deliverables under this grant, please use this link: