The more knowledge that is uncovered about domestic minor sex trafficking, the more people question how we can prevent these young girls from being victimized and trafficked in the first place. While some at-risk youth may already have knowledge of trafficking, as they may have seen it happen to their family or friends, others have never heard of sex trafficking. Therefore, it is crucial to build relationships with youth – and specifically girls – in order to build confidence and self-esteem, as well as to share about the issue that we face in our own cities and communities. Youth prevention work is a key component to the fight against sex trafficking.

A multi-week youth prevention program typically takes place within a small group of at-risk girls ages 12 to 18 years old. While individual youth prevention programs and topics can be created and discussed, there are nationally recognized programs, including My Life My Choice, in which the curriculum and information is provided and tested, proven to increase knowledge and reduce the chances of exploitation. These curriculum's are most often used to reach girls who are already at a higher risk of sexual exploitation or who have already experienced exploitation. Higher risk factors of exploitation include those who have experienced previous abuse and neglect, who come from families filled with violence and addiction, or those who live in known areas targeted by pimps.

Youth prevention programs can last for various amount of times, however smaller groups typically last a number of weeks in order to relay further information and to form relationships among the girls and leaders.  For at-risk youth, it is important that through the program there is a change in the attitudes toward commercial sexual exploitation and prostitution, a greater knowledge of the realities of pimps and trafficking, and an empowerment of skills to identify and resist recruitment or to receive resources to exit the life if they are already in it.

While some youth prevention presentations can be done by those without specific training, more specified curriculums are run by a licensed clinician or a service provider with training in leading groups.  Often times, there are also survivors of trafficking involved within the group, sharing their own personal story and providing a safe place for girls to open up about their own experiences while recognizing that they do not need to be ashamed of their victimization.

Some of the topics that are covered within a course include understanding and recognizing recruitment tactics, reducing the risk of exploitation, recognizing the link between substance abuse and exploitation, developing self esteem, hearing stories from survivors, and finding help if a girl has already been victimized or exploited.

Written by: Katie Linn | Previous Executive Director of Exploit No More

As we look at a number of different types of sex trafficking that youth can fall victim to, there are some that are still hidden from view, specifically the exploitation of boys and homeless youth.
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Child exploitation consists of more than just the traditional idea of sex trafficking – it can also include survival sex and the exploitation of boys, which can look different than the exploitation of girls. These two types of exploitation can be closely related, as can the exploitation of homeless youth and gang or pimp controlled trafficking.

Homeless Youth
Of all the factors that make youth vulnerable to exploitation, homelessness and running away from home are two of the most prevalent. Traffickers specifically look for youth who are missing the family connection and aim to fill that position in order to lure them in to be trafficked. Within 48 hours of being away from home, one in three adolescents will be sexually exploited.

In addition to runaway and otherwise homeless youth, many youth find themselves on the streets and in vulnerable situations due to being forced to leave home or prevented from returning by their own parents. These children are known as throwaway youth – those who have been thrown out of their homes. As a child often becomes a throwaway through conflict or discord with the family, many children who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) are at a higher risk for exploitation. Through their own journey to discover who they are, some families are not supportive and refuse to allow their child to live in their home, giving the child no place to go other than the streets and potentially to traffickers.

While living on the streets, youth typically tend to meet and stick with others their age who are in the same situation. They will work together in order to find food and shelter for each other, may travel to a new or different part of the city or state together, and form a familial bond between them – often calling each other ‘brother’ or ‘sister’. In the sense of relationships, traffickers also aim to create this sense of family among themselves and their victims, with girls calling each other ‘wifeys’ or ‘sister-wives’ and their trafficker ‘daddy’. Therefore, for youth who have their alternative family on the streets, coming into an alternative family of a trafficker does not feel out of the ordinary or different – it feels normal.
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Many youth who find themselves with a home – whether it be from running away, being thrown out by family, or other factors – go without the basic necessities of shelter, food, and clothing. In order to fulfill these basic needs, some engage in survival sex, which is the exchange of sex for food, shelter, clothing, or money in order to meet those needs. Survival sex, while exploitation within itself, also forms greater vulnerabilities to being trafficked.


Exploitation of Boys
Despite the main focus on exploitation of girls, it is thought that boys make up anywhere between 10-50% of all exploited youth. This wide range of a possible percentage is due to the fact that it is much more difficult to identify male victims, due to a few key differences between the exploitation of boys versus girls.

The majority of exploited male youth are not trafficked by a pimp, but rather work independently. They often secure their own ‘dates’ themselves on the streets, online, or via magazine advertisements, giving themselves and others the illusion that they are in control of their own sexual engagement and transactions. These ‘hustlers’, as they may call themselves, often have a higher rate of drug addictions than other exploited youth, and typically do not self-identify as a victim or admit any involvement in the sex trade.
For those boys who are trafficked under a pimp, it is extremely difficult for law enforcement to identify the victims. Pimps practice a greater caution with boys, as they are treated more harshly  in prison by other prisoners if arrested for trafficking boys. This often leads to the requirement of a buyer to perform the sexual act while the pimp is still in the room, which limits undercover law enforcement’s opportunities to successfully identify and rescue victims.
Another difficulty in identifying exploited boys is the lack of self-identification. Many boys hesitate to self-identify as being trafficked or exploited within the sex trade out of fear and shame that they may be labeled as gay. While the majority of buyers and exploiters of boys are adult men, in reality only 25-35% of victims self-identify as gay, bisexual, or transgender.

Written by: Katie Linn | Previous Executive Director of Exploit No More

It is not uncommon to see a story featured on the news about children abroad who have been sold into the sex trade at a very young age by their own family. These parents often make the decision to sell their children in order to make extra money to care for more valued children, often boys; to purchase material items; or to feed a drug or alcohol habit. However, right in our own cities, American families also sell and traffic their children, and are much more difficult to identify than the families abroad.

While families in impoverished countries justify selling their children out of necessity, parents who traffic their children in the United States are motivated by a very different reason – the pursuit of power and control. Children who are victims of familial trafficking often grow up in a home and a family that is very well respected within the community. While the family may have strong connections to the leaders in society, they also may have ties to gangs and pimps who work with them in the trafficking of the children.

Familial trafficking is perhaps one of the most difficult types of domestic minor sex trafficking to detect. Often a ‘family business’, trafficking is a culture within the family that is passed down from generation to generation. Therefore, within a family that traffics their children, it is rare that one single person is the trafficker and enabler; but rather the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins have all been raised in a similar way and may play a role in the trafficking. As a result of this, it is difficult for someone who grew up in a familial trafficking environment to recognize their victimization and to brake the cycle with their own family.

From an extremely young age, sometimes even from the moment of birth, violence and abuse become a part of the child’s life, with rape and sexual abuse beginning as young as possible. These children grow up with the normalization of rape and violence, being told that there is nothing wrong with having sex with adults. If the child does begin to detect an abnormality about their family, parents us a form of mental abuse called gas lighting, through which the truth is twisted and false information is given to the victim, causing the child to question their own memories, beliefs, and sanity.

Parents will also use manipulation through threats of abandonment and separation from the family. They continually tell their children that if they were to ever tell someone what happens within the family, they will be separated and will never see each other again. Even as adults, the family may cut out a victim if they decide to admit the abuse and speak out, leaving them without a family unit altogether.

As the main goals of the trafficker in a familial trafficking situation is power and control, they will work hard to maintain normalcy to the world outside of their own family. Many children will continue to regularly attend school, may receive good grades and often participate in extra curricular activities. While they are manipulated by their parents and influenced by he family culture, the children will be very cautious of what they tell adults and may have very limited, if any, one on one access to an adult who may be able to pick up on any trafficking signs.
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Due to the manipulation, the strong family ties with respected community members, and the parent’s efforts to appear as normal as possible from the outside, child victims of familial trafficking are very difficult to identify. The younger the child is, the more likely they will be able to be identified and recovered from their exploitation. Any individual who has contact with a child on a regular basis should be aware of the subtle signs of potential familial trafficking and be able to get the child help if needed.