Children’s of Alabama Physicians Honored by U.S. Department of Homeland Security

TwoChildren’s of Alabama physicians are being recognized for combating human trafficking. Kara Huls, M.D., and Ashley Hodges, Ph.D., CRNP, received the inaugural “Outstanding Victim Protection in Countering Human Trafficking” award from the Center for Countering Human Trafficking (CCHT) within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently.

They received the award on Tuesday, Jan. 31, in Washington, D.C., during the newly established DHS annual awards in Countering Human Trafficking. The awards recognized major counter-human trafficking efforts and contributions by department personnel. The first awards were given out by the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Director of the DHS Center for Countering Human Trafficking in honor of National Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

CCHT recognized Huls, Hodges and other members of Birmingham’s Multidisciplinary Team (MDT). The group includes law enforcement officers, judicial officials and other service providers working together to improve the detection and care of trafficking survivors.

It also works to increase accountability for perpetrators. The team’s work has been recognized as a national model for addressing child trafficking.

Huls and Hodges provide medical care to survivors of childhood sex trafficking at the Sunrise Clinic at Children’s of Alabama. The clinic, founded in partnership with UAB, offers comprehensive medical care to survivors of child trafficking and consultation with service providers and community members who encounter children who may have been trafficked. The Sunrise Clinic is held within Children’s Hospital Intervention and Prevention Services Center (CHIPS Center). It comprises nurses, case managers, therapists and medical staff who are devoted to the care of survivors of child abuse.

Huls is also the medical director of the Children’s of Alabama Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program, which provides acute medical care and forensic exams for survivors of sexual abuse and sexual assault.