The "Preventing Child Trafficking Act of 2025" mandates the continued implementation of anti-trafficking programs for children, based on the recommendations of the Government Accountability Office, by the Office for Victims of Crime in collaboration with the Office on Trafficking in Persons.
Jon Ossoff
Senator
GA
The "Preventing Child Trafficking Act of 2025" aims to combat child trafficking by directing the Office for Victims of Crime, in collaboration with the Office on Trafficking in Persons, to continue implementing anti-trafficking recommendations. This includes developing strategies for prevention and survivor support, as well as setting measurable goals for related programs. The Director of the Office for Victims of Crime must report to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees on the progress made within 180 days of the Act's enactment.
Feds Directed to Act on Child Trafficking Recommendations: New Bill Mandates GAO Report Implementation and Performance Tracking
This bill, the "Preventing Child Trafficking Act of 2025," essentially tells two key federal offices – the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) and the Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) – to keep working on implementing specific anti-trafficking measures for kids.
Taking Cues from the Watchdog
Instead of reinventing the wheel, the Act points directly to a set of existing ideas. It defines "anti-trafficking recommendations" as the ones laid out in a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report from December 2023, titled "Child Trafficking: Addressing Challenges to Public Awareness and Survivor Support." Think of the GAO as Congress's investigative arm – they study government programs and report on what's working and what's not. This bill requires OVC and OTIP to collaborate on strategies based specifically on that report's findings to prevent child trafficking and help survivors.
Show Me the Results
A key part of this is accountability. The bill mandates setting "objective, measurable, and quantifiable" performance goals for these anti-trafficking programs. This means figuring out concrete ways to track progress, using data gathered from the organizations (grantees) actually running the programs on the ground. It's about moving beyond good intentions to see if these efforts are making a real difference.
Reporting Back
Finally, the Director of the OVC has a deadline. Within 180 days of this Act becoming law, they need to send a report to the Judiciary Committees in both the Senate and the House. This report must detail exactly what steps they've taken to put these recommendations and performance goals into action. It’s a check-in to make sure the directives are being followed.