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. 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.
22 Comments
Kristy
8/14/2017 04:25:40 am
Amen,all true! A child trafficking ring married into my family and since they married in, child rapes are norm. They also rape and sell other kids from families they marry into. They use forgery and let their victims know what they do as a child trafficking gang who gained power by murdering my mom and kid napping my son. Death penalty to all child rapists is the only way to save our children around the world... pedos know what they do....
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Dan
2/26/2018 11:55:24 am
Do you need help?
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Kayla
7/7/2020 09:49:30 pm
Yea
La Toya Gix
10/18/2018 05:15:00 pm
Please contact me if you need anything. Ia am a survivor and I help others connect to services
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M W
11/27/2018 04:01:16 am
I need help
Tina
4/8/2019 05:28:15 pm
I’m being trafficked by my parents
Exploit No More
4/8/2019 07:11:20 pm
Hi Tina, our hearts hurt to learn of what’s happening to you. Please call 911 immediately, if you feel safe to do so, and let them know you response from the anti-trafficking unit. We are not in the office currently so if you would like to email us, please do so at contact@exploitnomore.org with any information you would like to share. We will send it to our contact at the police department.
mom in Washington
4/1/2021 08:59:33 pm
la toya six can you contact me ??
xavier jones
2/27/2020 01:22:56 pm
hello kristy,
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Lon
9/5/2020 06:57:56 pm
I was involved in something like this... My mother sex trafficked me to a rich pedophile when I was a child... I've been placed in some fucked up program with all the bells and whistles... The flashing lights the xxx the ooo
ms
10/15/2020 07:22:38 am
yo thats mad
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Exploit No More
11/27/2018 09:05:03 am
If you need help and it is an emergency - call 911 immediately. You can also email us at contact@exploitnomore.org and we can get you connected with resources/services.
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AZoey
9/30/2019 03:47:30 am
I didn't know what to call it before, i didn't know there was anyone else, I was 14 when i realised and didn't get out until 21. It's not just America, it's Australia too.
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Exploit No More Team
11/26/2019 01:04:46 pm
We're so sorry to hear about this! Feel free to reach out to us, contact@exploitnomore.org
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Happening in apt above me called CPS...All they have to do is lie. Even cops come to help and use the kids. I can hear them doing it. Disgusting....Bringing small children to babysit...Gives access...The 15 year old is helping them...I know because I heard her father rape her 1 time...The father still comes over, the small kids, and all the terrorism towards me continues...My next step may be to call FBI in DC as cops are involved...Those men came in the middle of the night chanting..”We are evil people” over and over...Having an orgy while the mother watches...I can hear everything...Not one authority figure has ever come to get a statement or ask for more info....I have called 30 or more times to help these kids...NADA! To know, to try and help the kids...but, nothing to make me think it has stopped.
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Exploit No More Team
11/26/2019 01:06:14 pm
We're so sorry to hear about this! Feel free to reach out to us if you need to talk with someone. contact@exploitnomore.org
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My daughter Desirae Danielle Patrick....Lesbian withe Destiny Estrellean Wick ...Last know address 456 N Wick Way Bisbee, Az 85703.….Grand Parents that live with them is Robert and Eda Estreallean Wick.Desirae just turned 18 in July..Does anybody heard or seen Mn y daughter., Yes this family is John Wicks Family Thank You..worried mother get no help to her..
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Shaun
7/12/2020 04:44:49 pm
I suspect a next door neighbor is selling their daughter to a couple of old men that live in our neighborhood. They (man and wife) sends her to these men's homes ( both men live alone and are not related to the girl) and she comes back a couple hours later. She is no more than 10 or 11. Today I saw her riding on the back of one of the old men's motorcycle. She had her hands around his waist and for a second I thought it might be a girlfriend until I took a second look. What should I do? I don't have solid proof but I have a bad gut feeling.
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Sarah
7/14/2020 12:52:30 pm
Shaun -
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Lon
9/5/2020 06:46:24 pm
I was sex trafficked by my mother,,, tyona lynn Heath... She sex trafficed me to her boss,,, one of the owners of Hoffman's nursery and great american recycling at the time,,, Richard m. Hoffman... I informed my mother that Richard was molesting me at the age of 10 ... We were living in his house and had been living there for two years... My mother,,, and Richard sat me down at the table... I had to say what Richard was doing to me... Richard then told me I was experiencing wet dreams,,, that it was totally normal and nothing was happening to me... I immediately got moved back to my step father's (((Kerry Ross Cochell))) house... He was responsible for the physical,,, and extremely loud,,, verbal abuse grooming part of my childhood... I told the counselor in ocj when I was 17 years old... It's been covered up... My mother also murdered my grandmother to cover up her actions... My story has never been checked out me and my grandmother have never gotten justice... And now Richard m. Hoffman is in prison for 30-50 years for molesting another preteen boy... If anybody reads this that can help... Please do... My name is Lon bryan Cochell my # 313-770-1852
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Adalynn
4/1/2021 10:08:17 pm
I was one
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