Katherine Kaufka Walts, JD
Katherine Kaufka Walts, JD is the Director of the Center for the Human Rights of Children at Loyola University Chicago. The Center represents, coordinates, and stimulates efforts of the Loyola University community to understand and protect the human rights of children utilizing an interdisciplinary approach. Prior to joining Loyola, Ms. Kaufka Walts served as the Executive Director of the International Organization for Adolescents (IOFA). At IOFA she developed several projects in the US and abroad advancing the rights of children and youth, including a program to develop the capacity of child welfare system to better respond to child trafficking and exploitation cases. Prior to IOFA, Ms. Kaufka Walts managed the Counter-Human Trafficking project at the National Immigrant Justice Center, where she worked with several local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies on single and multiple-victim sex and labor trafficking cases. She successfully represented dozens of victims of human trafficking in the United States within immigration and criminal justice proceedings under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
Ms. Kaufka Walts has provided expert testimony to local, national, and international governmental bodies. Ms. Kaufka Walts continues to provide technical assistance, training and consultation to law enforcement, service providers, task forces and coalitions, government agencies, federal and local law enforcement, and media in the US and internationally on the subject of human trafficking. Her international work includes project development, training, and consultation in the Dominican Republic, Latvia, Ethiopia, and Kosovo. Her publications include and T Nonimmigrant Visa and Protection and Relief for Victims of Human Trafficking, A Practitioner’s Guide (Immigration Briefings, September 2006) and Building Child Welfare Response to Child Trafficking handbook (Loyola University Chicago, 2011), “Understanding Child Trafficking in the United States: A Review of Current Policies, Research, and Issues Facing Survivors” (book chapter), Victims of Crime, 4th Edition, Sage Publications. (2012), “An Introduction to Child Trafficking in the United States,” (American Bar Association, Children’s Rights Litigation Section, 2012), Building Child Welfare Response to Child Trafficking: An Illinois Case Study (Illinois Child Welfare Journal, 2012). She received her J.D. from the University of Wisconsin, and her B.A and B.S. from the University of Michigan.
Contact information
Katherine Kaufka Walts
Director, Center for the Human Rights of Children
Loyola University Chicago
1032 W. Sheridan Road
Cuneo Hall, Room 320
Chicago, IL 60660
773.508.8051
kkaufkawalts@luc.edu
http://www.luc.edu/chrc