Children in child welfare often struggle to attend current anti-trafficking prevention programs due to residing in foster placements that may be geographically spread out; difficulty obtaining needed transportation; and involvement in multiple service programs which hinder attending a program that it is only offered at a specific time and location. The web-based game, Shady Grove will fill this critical gap in the field by offering an alternative model for trafficking prevention education. With broad accessibility, Shady Grove has the potential to reach the over 600,000 youth in the U.S. child welfare system.

Shady Grove moves past just the provision of information and focuses on developing strategies that youth can learn and incorporate later in their lives. Through honest depictions of topics such as human trafficking, vulnerability, and violence, children engage in interactive activities in order to learn and exercise their skills in identifying signs and red flags of grooming and recruitment. Youth also practice navigating risky and/or unsafe scenarios that are reflective of real-life situations faced by children who have been exploited.

Following the development of Shady Grove, Love146 will collaborate with at least two child welfare agencies to pilot test larger scale implementation of this prevention intervention. Love146 already has deep partnerships with child welfare agencies across the country, and Bethany Gilot will support this work as Chair of the National Child Welfare Anti-Trafficking Collaborative.