The U.S. Department of Justice awarded Kentucky $1 million for a two-year study on human trafficking in the Commonwealth. According to University of Louisville Professor Jennifer Middleton, one of the most alarming things about child trafficking “is that it is primarily happening at the hands of family members – people in our community that we know, live next to or interact with.” Middleton is the principal investigator at U of L’s Human Trafficking Research Initiative’s “Project Pivot: Prevention and Intervention for Victims of Trafficking.” The project recommends launching a human trafficking and child labor screening tool to identify high-risk children; hiring a full-time child protection specialist, creating an advisory council and working with the Department for Community Based Services.