Child Sex Trafficking and the Child Welfare System

Introduction

"Reports indicate that over 100,000 children and youth are trafficked in the United States annually, many of whom have been in the care of the child welfare system or will enter it at some point in their lives . There is a role for child welfare advocates to become more active in identifying risks children and youth in the foster care system face and ways to engage with other service providers and agencies to ensure that proper safeguards and services are in place to address the needs of victims.

This SPARC brief examines the factors that put children and youth at risk of trafficking and identifies specific populations who are targeted for recruitment by traffickers. The brief also looks at ways in which child welfare providers can identify trafficked children and youth and connect them with the appropriate services they need including housing, medical treatment, mental health services, legal services and other provisions of basic needs. In addition, the brief identifies policy recommendations both at the state and federal level to ensure that trafficking survivors are identified and have access to services and benefits. Finally, the brief examines the recent activity in Congress addressing the issue and highlights states that are taking positive steps to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth."

https://firstfocus.org/resources/report/sex-trafficking-child-welfare-system/

Finding where these Pedophiles obtain Children from should be the Priority for Pizzagate , we can then link victims of abuse and find who really is behind the Pedophile Networks involved in Procuring Children for the Elites.

As we have seen in Previous Pizzagate Scandals such as The Pedophile Nest involving the Elites in Washington DC's Franklin Scandal and the Jimmy Savile Case in the UK, both involved procuring vulnerable children from the care home system. Both cases involved gifts in exchange for sexual favors.

In The Franklin Scandal it was children from Boys Town that were targeted by Lawrence King http://salem-news.com/articles/december292012/boys-town-scandal-tk.php

In The Savile Case Numerous Care Homes and Childrens Charities were used by Saville as a front for his abuse. Too many to Mention.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2218517/Jimmy-Savile-pictured-surrounded-children-Jersey-care-home-192-suffered-abuse.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Savile_sexual_abuse_scandal

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28034427

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2229140/Bryn-Estyn-Victims-tell-horror-inside-North-Wales-care-home--Jimmy-Savile-regular-visitor.html

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jun/26/jimmy-savile-sexual-abuse-timeline

Below is extracts from an Article which address the Care Home Abuse and Child Trafficking connection.

https://firstfocus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Sex-Trafficking-and-the-Child-Welfare-System.pdf

Child Sex Trafficking and the Child Welfare System

“Victims of sex trafficking include a broad range of populations such as homeless children and youth, children and youth in the foster care system, refugees, and LGBTQ youth. To date, little effort has been made to collect comprehensive data on the scope of this problem, but it is estimated that 100,000 children and youth are sexually exploited in the United States each year. 1 What is clear is that many of the minors who are trafficked interact with the child welfare system at some point in their lives. Child welfare service providers are therefore uniquely situated to identify and address issues of children and youth who have been sexually exploited.”

Prevalence of Trafficked Victims in the Child Welfare System

A high correlation exists between children and youth who are currently or formerly in foster care and victims of sex trafficking. National data on this topic is far from comprehensive, but studies at the local level show that there is a high incidence of trafficked children and youth being part of or previously involved with the child welfare system. A study by the Department of Children and Families in Connecticut found that out of the 88 children identified as sex trafficking victims, 86 had been involved with child welfare services prior to being trafficked. The Los Angeles Probation Department also found that sex trafficking disproportionately affects children and youth in foster care, with nearly 60 percent of minors arrested on prostitution-related charges coming from the foster care system. In northern California, Alameda County reported that 41 percent of 267 victims identified were at one time part of the foster care system. Finally, a New York state study showed that up to 85 percent of trafficking victims had prior child welfare involvement.”

“One common characteristic of children and youth who have been sexually trafficked is a history of child abuse, which includes mental, physical, and sexual abuse. 8 Often children and youth who are abused in the home suffer from psychological issues that draw them to, or make them susceptible to traffickers. According to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) report, 35 percent of the cases reported to child protective services were due to the physical or sexual abuse or emotional/psychological maltreatment of children. Abused children and youth may experience feelings of betrayal, powerlessness, traumatic sexualization, and stigmatization. In addition, they may link the experience of receiving affection with performing sexual acts if a particular trafficker abused them over a significant period of time. Childhood trauma related to abuse also makes this group more likely to be exploited for sex later on in life. A study found that victims of child abuse were 28 times more likely to be arrested for prostitution compared to their peers.”

“In addition to trauma due to sexual abuse, trafficked children and youth will often form emotional bonds with their trafficker, making it difficult to realize when they are being exploited. Victims may make progress in rehabilitating their lives, only to leave their support system to go back to their abuser. Researchers have identified this positive feeling by a victim towards an abuser as Stockholm syndrome and have found that trafficked children and youth often display its characteristics. 13 This behavior serves as a coping measure for those who cannot mentally process the trauma they are experiencing. As a result, children and youth may feel compelled to return to their trafficker and can be a flight risk when placed in shelters or group homes, because they feel a sense of belonging and attachment to their abuser. Traffickers often referred to as pimps, recognize that children and youth in or transitioning out of foster care have vulnerabilities that make them easy prey. Reports indicate that pimps will recruit children and youth near group homes, at bus stops, malls, and other places that young people frequent.

Remarkably, some young trafficked girls are sent into shelters to recruit other girls for a pimp. They will take advantage of a young person’s low self-esteem and history of abuse, neglect, and rejection to make trafficking seem appealing and stable. Pimps also recruit children and youth at a young age, so that they can groom them to become prostitutes and create a relationship in which the child feels indebted to the pimp. Given that pimps do target highly vulnerable children and youth, foster parents and service providers should be made aware of the dangers of trafficking and work on closing the avenues available to pimps in recruiting children and youth for sexual exploitation.

Other populations who have a high incidence of being trafficked and who may come into contact with the foster care system include homeless or runaway children and youth and LGBTQ youth. LGBTQ youth represent 25 percent of homeless youth and have an incidence of being trafficked nearly five times greater than their peers. One explanation for the high rate of overlap between LGBTQ youth and homelessness is that youth who come out to their families are often rejected from their homes. On the streets, traffickers may target these youth, because they are less likely to get caught, as no one is looking out for their protection and best interest. In addition, traffickers may also appeal to homeless or runaway children and youth, because they know they are desperate to have their basic needs met including housing and food. The exchange of sex for services, known as survival-sex, can be difficult to account for because on the surface it can appear to be a consensual relationship.”