Trauma-Informed Continuity of Care: A Reintegration Model for Trafficking Survivors and Vulnerable Return Migrants

Abstract

Return does not equal recovery. Survivors of trafficking and vulnerable return migrants often face continuing psychological distress, debt, stigma, family conflict, unstable housing, unmet health needs, and weak livelihood opportunities long after a case file records a location. This paper reframes reintegration as a capability process, the practical freedom to achieve safety, psychosocial stability, social acceptance, service access, and economic participation, rather than a completed status, a disbursed grant, or an income threshold. Using a narrative synthesis of evidence spanning trauma psychology, migration studies, and program evaluation, the paper develops a trauma-informed continuity-of-care model built around six sequenced phases: stabilization, collaborative assessment, individualized planning, coordinated implementation, adaptive review, and supported transition. The model links these phases to measurable outcomes across safety, psychosocial well-being, social connection, service access, and economic functioning, and to governance and evaluation design capable of testing where it breaks down. The analysis identifies premature case closure and livelihood assistance sequenced ahead of protection analysis as two avoidable failure points, and specifies what disconfirming evidence would look like rather than treating positive indicators as sufficient proof of recovery. Consolidated tables translate operational risk and governance assurance domains into case-management tools. The model is offered as a testable, falsifiable basis for program design and evaluation, not a demonstrated solution, closing with a research agenda for comparative and longitudinal testing