Child sex trafficking is often viewed as a problem
that only happens in other countries – such as Thailand or Cambodia. Many don’t
realize that American children, often younger than 15, are coerced into
prostitution in communities all over the US. According to the Bureau of Justice
Statistics, 83% of the victims in confirmed cases of human trafficking are
U.S. citizens. There are also widespread
misconceptions that trafficking victims ‘choose’ the prostitution ‘lifestyle’;
in reality, many children who have been trafficked are only 10-14
years old when they are first victimized by pimps and well below the age of
consent.
Last
week the Senate Committee on Finance held a full committee hearing entitled Sex
Trafficking and Exploitation in America: Child Welfare’s Role in Prevention and
Intervention to explore the issue. Witness testimony highlighted:
·
the need to promote public awareness of
the issue of domestic child sex trafficking, especially among youth at risk of
exploitation;
·
the lack of housing and trauma-informed
care for exploited children;
·
the potential role of the child welfare
system in preventing child trafficking and helping survivors;
·
the importance of training for law
enforcement, educators, social workers and others who work with children; and
·
the need for legal recognition of
children who have been trafficked as survivors of child sexual abuse, not as
juvenile offenders or ‘child prostitutes’.
Although the Trafficking
Victims Prevention Act of 2000 recognizes minors under 18 who have been
induced to perform commercial sexual acts as human trafficking victims, child
survivors of sex trafficking are still often arrested and put on probation or
in juvenile detention. Some state policymakers have attempted to resolve this
issue by passing legislation such as ‘Safe Harbor’ laws that protect child
survivors of commercial sexual exploitation from being prosecuted for
prostitution and require that agencies recognize them as survivors of sexual
abuse rather than viewing them as criminals. States that have already passed
such legislation include Connecticut, Florida,
Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Vermont, and Washington State. A bill has
been proposed and is currently being considered in the U.S. Senate which would
extend such protections to child survivors nationwide.
In
addition to concerns about the legal status of children who have been
trafficked, witness testimony emphasized the need for effective,
trauma-informed services to help children who have been trafficked and the role
of the child welfare system in ensuring children get the services they need. In
her witness
testimony, Asia Graves, Maryland Outreach Services Coordinator and Survivor
Advocate at FAIR Girls in Baltimore, stated that funding for emergency and
transitional housing for homeless youth is urgently needed—in particular,
dedicated beds for youth who have been exploited by sex traffickers. Homeless
youth often have to choose either sleeping outside or returning to the pimps
who have been exploiting them. Faced with the dangers of sleeping out on the
streets, many children return to the adults who have been abusing and
prostituting them. According to Graves, agencies and non-profits often have to
‘fight’ each other for beds so that the homeless and exploited youth they serve
can have a safe place to sleep and sometimes resort to staying with sleeping
children in hotel lobbies over night.
The
testimony of all four witnesses emphasized that reform of the child welfare
system is key. A large proportion of children who are trafficked have already
been involved in the child welfare system and many are still legally in systems
of care while being trafficked. According to the witness
testimony of Susan Goldfarb, Executive
Director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Suffolk County, over 70% of
trafficked children in the Boston area had a previous history of abuse and/or
neglect and child welfare involvement. The Commissioner of the Connecticut
Department of Children and Families, The Honorable Joette
Katz, stated in her testimony that in Connecticut, 98% of children who are identified
as survivors of sex trafficking had previous involvement with child welfare
services, and many were legally in the care and custody of the Connecticut
Department of Children and Families while they were being prostituted by
traffickers. Ms. Goldfarb raised concerns that when children have been abused
by someone who is not a caregiver, often the child welfare system does not
intervene even when a report is made. Ms. Goldfarb stated that the child
welfare system needs to view survivors of child sex trafficking as ‘their kids’
in order to ensure that children get the protection and services that they
need. The witnesses highlighted the crucial importance of providing trafficked
youth with the specialized foster care and trauma-informed services that they
need to heal and stay safe once they have escaped their exploiters.
Some states have implemented policies to better
protect children from sex trafficking and address the related issues in the
child welfare system. Connecticut now accepts all cases of child sex
trafficking through its Careline (the child welfare intake and information
center) whether or not the alleged perpetrator is the ‘entrusted’ caregiver.
The state has established an Interagency Human Anti-Trafficking Response Team
(HART) led by the Connecticut Department of Children and Families which reviews
and monitors Careline to ensure an appropriate response to children’s needs
(including for victims with still unsubstantiated cases) and coordination with FBI
and Homeland Security to ensure cases of child sex trafficking are prosecuted
to fullest extent of state and federal law.
To help raise awareness, the Georgia Department
of Education has partnered with Street Grace,
a nonprofit dedicated to ending domestic minor sex trafficking, to launch an initiative to educate teachers and students throughout the state
about the exploitation of children. The Georgia Attorney General has also
launched a public awareness
campaign around the issue. In Texas, H.B.
4009 created a Human Trafficking Prevention Task
Force to address the issue statewide and mandated that all newly-licensed law
enforcement officers receive training on human trafficking.
State policymakers may want to re-examine the legal
framework to protect survivors of child sex trafficking in their state, the
measures currently in place to prevent sex trafficking, and the programs and
policies in place to address trauma and ensure that survivors get the help they
need. They may also want to consider the training and education programs
currently available to professionals that work with youth and to youth
themselves to reduce their vulnerability to sex traffickers.
For more information about how policymakers can
support the well-being of children and families and for policy strategies aimed
at preventing
abuse and neglect please visit PolicyforResults.org.
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