Challenges in Helping Children Who Have Been Victims of Sex Trafficking

Child victims are often misidentified or not identified at all. The reason is they encounter professionals who lack knowledge and awareness of what child trafficking looks like. When a child is identified as a trafficked victim, they are often asked the wrong types of questions by professionals. Questions that ask “why” can further harm and shame the child. “Why didn’t you leave?”
 
The victims of sex trafficking do not let themselves be trafficked. We do not ask a person, “Why did you let yourself get robbed?” Children who are trafficked have vulnerabilities that traffickers prey upon. A child who is sex trafficked did not choose to be victimized: they are the victims.
 
FACTORS

  • Distrust of authority figures or child service providers

  • These children may present as hostile or refuse assistance

  • Fear of criminal or child welfare response

  • They can been loyal to the trafficker and see them as 'family'

  • These children face shame and social stigma

  • They can have significant physical and mental health issues from repeated trauma

  • They do not see themselves as victims

  • These children are hard to locate

Skylar Ungerman