Running Head: CHILD SEX TRAFFICKING 1

Child Sex Trafficking in the United States

Sarah Lewis

Professor Kathy S. Faw RN, MSN

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

NUR 3113

April 7, 2017

Honor Code “I pledge..”

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Introduction

During Ashton Kutcher’s opening speech at a meeting with the senate for federal support

to aid in the fight against human trafficking, he told a story about a fifteen-year-old girl from

Oakland. This young girl met a man online and within a short amount of time met the man face

to face. It only took hours for this man to rape, abuse, and force this fifteen-year-old girl into

human trafficking (Ashton Kutcher). This type of human slavery and prostitution is happening

every day on American soil; this is not just an issue overseas and in other countries, but right

here in the land of the free.

Ashton Kutcher, well-known Hollywood actor, has made his life mission about this fight

against human trafficking. Kutcher co-founded a foundation called Thorn that has dedicated their

mission to stop and eliminate child sex trafficking. The foundation uses data and technology to

intervene human trafficking, eradicate sex trafficking all together, and save the victims of human

trafficking. Although the mission focus is on children specifically, the other victims of human

trafficking do not go unnoticed; these subgroups still remain in the spotlight of Thorn’s

dedication to save human lives and rights. Thorn foundation works very closely with various

government agencies and other foundations in order to collaborate a greater effort in eliminating

such a serious issue.

Evidence-based Interventions addressing Health Needs

To further emphasize the severity of child sex trafficking, Thorn, an anti-trafficking

foundation, found that 100,000 to 300,000 American children are at risk for commercial sexual

exploitation at any given time (Tech Innovation). From the Census Bureau international

database, the Untied States population estimate as of 2017 is about 325 million and of that

population estimate, people aged between 0-19 make up about 10 million of the population (U.S.
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and World Population Clock). Although these statistics only make up about 3% of the population

at risk for child sex trafficking, that is till 3% more than anyone should be comfortable living

with.

The act of human trafficking of a person under the age of eighteen in the United States is

termed domestic minor sex trafficking. This term can be further defined as the ‘recruitment,

harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex

act’ (Tech Innovation).

Social Determinants of Health

The vulnerable populations of children at risk for human trafficking are those that have

been abandoned, runaway from home, or are homeless American children running the streets and

using sex as means of survival (Child Trafficking Statistics) These children end up in the sex-

trade of human trafficking through false promises of safety, education, and future opportunities;

and some even willing in hopes of making money to survive. When means of survival trump all

other needs, Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs takes affect and psychological needs are the only

priority this vulnerable population has. Once the basic needs of food, water, warmth, and rest

have been met, the population then can worry about their safety needs. One can imagine that

personal hygiene, healthcare, and education come very last on the list for a group of children

seeking out basic human needs in order to survive day to day. The desperation to survive is what

increase these children’s chances of being marketed into sex trafficking, they are also more

easily manipulated than adults due to their lack of maturity and experience. The greatest health

risk for child sex trafficking is the incidence of contracting HIV (Mccrory, p 16-17). The average

lifespan for this vulnerable population after being introduced into human trafficking is seven
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years. The causes of death are “attack, abuse, HIV and other STDs, malnutrition, overdose, or

suicide (Child Trafficking Statistics).

Global Approach in Addressing “Health for All”

Survivors of child human sex trafficking suffer enormously from post-traumatic stress

disorder, among other life threatening illnesses or diseases they may have come into contact with

(Breger, p 1136). The next steps for victims of child sex trafficking can be classified into the

“three R’s”, rescue, rehabilitate, and reintegrate (Breger, p 1139-1142). The Department of State

works to establish a safe harbor for these victims and provide therapeutic foster care if needed.

While in the safe living programs, the children are provided with health care for both their

physical and psychological needs with professional mental health staff trained in the special

needs of these young children. Melissa L. Breger, researcher from Albany law looked into the

programs that are set up for children that have been apart of human sex trafficking and what life

looks like for this population once they have been rescued. Some of the disadvantages from these

types of foster care are the lack of funding for group living. Breger found that while the

therapeutic foster cares were effective in providing the needs of children, funding comes from

the individual state. With increase in funding from both state and federal, Breger believes there

would be a greater capacity of services to provide to the growing number of victims of child sex

trafficking (Breger, p 1178-1179).

Breger found that rescue can be very challenging due to these victims lack of trust and

unwillingness of change, which can also be very traumatic considering this lifestyle is all they

know. During the rehabilitation process, the staff should be trained specifically in victims of

child sex trafficking. The integration of these victims in various programs can be difficult

because of the fear of being removed from what they consider to be “familiar” or “normal”
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(Breger, p 1139-1174). Another great challenge in rescue and rehabilitating the victims of child

sex trafficking is the risk of being found by their traffickers. Breger speaks about autonomy of

location, and the importance of these programs to fly under the radar of media and Internet in

order to maintain the safety of the victims (Breger, p 1172-1174).

The third R in the healing of sex trafficked children is reintegration into society. These

children must learn how to not only interact with other people and reestablish healthy

relationships, but how to become an independent in society. These are all key teachings that

more fortunate children received growing up from their parents, caregivers, and school systems;

all things that this vulnerable population of children did not get a chance to learn.

Dave Blair, researcher from Georgetown University, looked into the tools and strategies

it would take to abolish the human trafficking market. With the direct correlation of the Internet

as a means for exposing its victims to human trafficking, Blair felt the journey should start first

at the source. Online marketplaces such as Craigslist, proved to be one of the most elicit sources

of “prostitution in the nation” (Blair, p 15-16). One of the many organizations and foundations

out there that monitors online human trafficking is the Polaris Project.

‘The Polaris Project, an anti-trafficking organization that runs the US National Human
Trafficking Hotline, echoed these findings, identifying “online sex ads as the number one
platform for the buying and selling of sex with children and young women [in the US.]... An FBI
investigation found that more than 2,800 ads of prostituted children were posted on Craigslist in
2008 alone (Blair, p 15).’

Through the efforts of law enforcement and these anti-trafficking organizations, Craigslist has

done away with their erotic services section (Blair, p 16-17). It is unearthing that only once the

matter brought legal attention to this online market that they removed the service page, the

question then is raised what other online markets like this one are allowing illegal human

trafficking to just fly under the radar for the sake of business?
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Conclusion

With the efforts of these anti-trafficking organizations, specifically discussed Thorn and

Polaris Project, awareness can be raised and actions can be taken to eradicate the market of

human trafficking. These organizations partnering with government agencies have proven to be

very effective in collaboratively rescuing victims of human trafficking as well as bringing a stop

to this sex trade before a human is made into a victim. In order to continue this positive effort in

eradicating human trafficking, these organizations need more funding from both state and federal

to improve and advance their technologies, increasing the efficiency and accuracy. Once the

funding is in place to rescue and prevent, actions need to be taken to educate health care

professionals on human trafficking and how to care for these victims holistically. After the

victims basic needs have been tended to, shelter is a number one priority to prevent these victims

from falling back into human trafficking. As stated earlier, state and federal funding are

important assets in providing safe, clean, and supportive sheltering to the victims that do not

have a family to go home to once they have been rescued. Moving up on Maslow’s Hierarchy of

needs, the psychosocial needs to be addressed by professional mental health staff to teach coping

methods, how to establish healthy relationships, and how to reincorporate into society in order to

become independent once the victim has made it to adulthood.

The victims of child sex trafficking miss out on a chance to be a child and are exposed to

some of the harshest realities of the world that they once felt safe in. Through the efforts of anti-

trafficking campaigns, organizations, and agencies, these children will never have to know how

cruel the world can be and will get a chance at a better life before they become another statistic.

With the proper funding, education, and social awareness of human sex trafficking, this market

as a whole can be eliminated and the vulnerable population of children at risk for child sex
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trafficking can be saved through the efforts of foster care and better opportunities to children in

need. Human enslavement is not something of the past, it is very real, very prominent, and is

occurring right under the noses of Americans every single day.

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References

Ashton Kutcher Testifies on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking. (n.d.). Retrieved April 03,

2017, from https://www.c-span.org/video/?424036-1%2Fashton-kutcher-testifies-

modern-slavery-human-trafficking

Blair, D. (2014, August). It Takes a Movement to Defeat a Market: Tools and Strategies for

Turning Technology Against Human Trafficking. In American Political Science

Association Conference Paper (Vol. 22, pp. 1-37).

Breger, M. L. (2016). Healing Sex-Trafficked Children: A Domestic Family Law Approach to an

International Epidemic. (Vol. 118, pp 1131-1179).

Child Trafficking Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved April 03, 2017, from

http://arkofhopeforchildren.org/child-trafficking/child-trafficking-statistics

Mccrory, Michelle Lyn, Ph.D. Trafficking in Women: When Survivors Find Their Voice. (2015)

1-26. Retrieved April 03, 2017, from

http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/McCrory_uncg_0154D_11601.pdf

Tech Innovation to Fight Child Sexual Exploitation. (n.d.). Retrieved April 03, 2017, from

https://www.wearethorn.org/

U.S. and World Population Clock. (n.d.). Retrieved April 03, 2017, from

https://www.census.gov/popclock/