Identifying Efficacious Social Work Interventions for Child Sex Trafficking

Abstract

Although the social justice issue of child sexual trafficking is widely regarded by the American public as a problem that is faced by other nations, particularly impoverished developing countries, the harsh reality is that child sex trafficking routinely occurs in the United States as well. While exact numbers about its prevalence in the United States are unavailable, it is known that sex trafficking, including men, women and children, occurs in all 50 states. The purpose of this study is to provide a review of the relevant literature concerning child sexual abuse and trafficking in the United States, including how young victims are typically groomed for sexual exploitation. In addition, a discussion of the specialized social work practice of child sex trafficking, including the multiple ethical issues that are involved, is following by a description of an evidence-based intervention with proven efficacy as an intervention for child sex trafficking victims. Finally, a discussion concerning the implications of the findings for professional social work practice concludes the study.

Child Sexual Abuse/Trafficking/Grooming

Section 1: Social Justice Section

Description of Social Justice Issue:

Although precise figures are unavailable, one of the pressing human rights issues facing the nation today is the prevalence of child sexual abuse and trafficking as well as the active grooming of young children for these illicit purposes. In fact, current estimates indicate that at least 4.5 million people are victims of sex trafficking globally. Moreover, it has become increasingly apparent that even affluent nations such as the United States are not immune from these criminal activities. In this regard, the Polaris Project emphasizes that, “While the prevalence of sex trafficking in the United States is still unknown, we do know that women, children, and men are being sold for sex against their will in cities and towns in all 50 states. A shocking number of these victims are citizens of the United States” (Sex Trafficking in the United States, 2019, p. 1).

Social Justice Issue Literature Review

As the research that follows shows, a serious threat to vulnerable populations, most especially women and children, exists in this country but it remains largely out of the public discourse for multiple reasons, most especially the wide array of other existential threats that are already arrayed against Americans. In this regard, a recent report by Saric (2022) pointed out that, “Overlapping crises — from the COVID-19 pandemic to climate change to armed conflicts — have caused unprecedented disruption to employment and education and increased extreme poverty, unsafe migration and gender-based violence, leading to a heightened risk of modern slavery” (para. 3),

Moreover, besides the lack of precise numbers and jurisdictions, the problem of sex trafficking and abuse of children is further exacerbated by the varied strategies by which they are overtly forced or covertly groomed for these purposes. In some cases, young people become victims of sex trafficking after becoming romantically involved with individuals who exploit them by either forcing them into or otherwise manipulating them into sex work. In other cases, young people are actually sold into sexual slavery by family members, including their parents. In addition, some young people are also tricked into sex work by the use of fake promises for real jobs such as modeling or legitimate entertainment (Sex Trafficking in the United States, 2019).

In the context of sex abuse and trafficking, the term “grooming” refers to situations wherein young people are exploited by others that have established some type of emotional relationship such as in the above-mentioned cases of romantic involvement or by family members. In some cases, young people are groomed by professionals with whom they have established a close relationship. Grooming is an especially insidious antecedent of outright sexual abuse and trafficking since it takes advantage of young people’s vulnerabilities to manipulation, naivete due to a lack of relevant life experiences and an overall inability to prevent these outcomes. Further, children are groomed by both adult men and women of all ages, and children may not realize what is being done to them or that these practices constitute abuse (Human trafficking, 2022).

Although every young person’s experience is unique in some ways, there are some general patterns that are used to groom children for sexual exploitation. The stages described in Table 1 below represent some of the general practices that are used for this purpose.

Table 1

Grooming practices used on children for sexual exploitation

Stage

Description

Stage 1: Targeting the Victim

The initial stage involves offenders evaluating potential victims for various vulnerabilities such as isolation, diminished self-confidence and emotional neediness. Children that have sporadic or inconsistent parental oversight are special targets.

Stage 2: Gaining the Victim’s Trust

Many sexual offenders seem to possess an intuitive ability to discern what actions will most effectively facilitate trust-building with a young child such as identifying their needs and how best to satisfy them. Because every child and situation is different, sexual predators require a fine-tuned sense of what actions are most appropriate. Further, truly successful sexual predators are naturally charismatic and are also capable of gaining caregiver trust to as to gain greater access to the child.

Stage 3: Filling a Need

After sexual predators start satisfying a child’s needs, the adult offender will become more important to the child to the point where they are idealized. Children’s perceived needs may include greater attention paid, gifts or affection. This level of involvement by adults in children’s lives also represents a red flag of potential abuse for parents or other caregivers.

Stage 4: Isolating the Child

During this stage, sexual predators leverage the burgeoning close relationship with children in order to devise opportunities to be alone with them such as tutoring, babysitting, coaching and outings. This stage serves the purpose of reinforcing the close relationship between the adult predator and their targeted children, an outcome that is accelerated when parents or caregivers demonstrate appreciation for these efforts. The net effect of this stage of grooming is to inculcate a sense that a special relationship exists that is worthy of continuance.

Stage 5: Sexualizing the Relationship

Based on the growing levels of trust between the sexual offender and his or her targeted child, the relationship becomes increasingly sexualized through various stratagems such as looking at pictures together, having intimate conversations and arranging situations where both are either nude or nearly so such as swimming. These encounters desensitize the child to the point where the sexual predator can take advantage of his or her natural curiosity by engaging in preliminary sexual activities.

Stage 6: Maintaining Control

The final stage involves the sexual offender emphasizing the need for secrecy about the relationship with a child, and attempt to place the blame for it directly on the child in order to coerce continued silence and participation. This is regarded as essential by sexual predators since outright sexual activities can result in children trying to end the relationship.

Source: Adapted from Sex Trafficking in the United States, 2019

Although the stages of grooming described in Table 1 above resemble the actions recommended by a CIA guidebook for surveillance and insurgent recruitment in hostile lands, sexual predators do not have a manual to “show them the ropes.” It is reasonable to suggest, though, that these stages do represent the general fashion in which young children become victims of sexual abuse and trafficking through grooming. Despite the amount of time and effort that sexual predators invest in recruiting their latest victims, the process is not all that difficult for those individuals who are bent on exploiting children who are especially vulnerable to such actions and possess some personal attributes that facilitate these activities.

In many cases, the relationship that is developed through grooming is a mix of carrots and sticks. In this regard, the specialists at Trafficking in America Task Force (2022) make it clear that, “Children in these entangled relationships — and at this point they are entangled — confront threats to blame them, to end the relationship and to end the emotional and material needs they associate with the relationship, whether it be the dirt bikes the child gets to ride, the coaching one receives, special outings or other gifts” (Human trafficking, 2022, para. 5). Further, besides any positive incentives children may receive for participating in sexual relations with offenders, these young people may come to believe that revealing the relationship will result in their humiliation and make them feel even more unwanted (Human trafficking, 2022)

It is also important to note that despite the stereotypical image of a sexual predator as male, especially the “funny uncle” relative, a small but likely severely underestimated percentage of women also engage in sexual predation and grooming in the United States today. For example, the results of a recent study by Kaylor et al. (2022) found that, “Two percent of those who commit sex crimes are women, most of which involve child victims. However, victimization surveys suggest the true rate of female-perpetrated child sexual abuse is significantly higher than official statistics, and that it is under-detected and under-reported” (p. 503). In sharp contrast to the growing body of knowledge concerning male sexual predators, far less is known concerning the methods that are used by women for grooming children for sexual exploitation (Kaylor et al., 2022). Nevertheless, the limited amount of research in this area indicates that women use many of the same tactics set forth in Table 1 above for sexual grooming, most especially in the cases of child sex traffickers and female educators (Kaylor et al., 2022).

Policies and Legislation:

In the United States, besides fundamental Thirteenth Amendment protections against involuntary servitude, human trafficking is also addressed by the federal laws and regulations set forth in Table 2 below.

Table 2

Human Trafficking Laws and Regulations

Law/Regulation

Description

U.S. Code, Title 22, Chapter 78 - Trafficking Victims Protection Act

The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act (TVPA). TVPA combats trafficking in persons, especially into the sex trade, slavery, and involuntary servitude. It has been reauthorized three times since its initial passage:

The Customs and Facilitations and Trade Enforcement Reauthorization Act of 2009

Sections 307 and 308 of the Act amend the original Tariff Act of 1930 to include provisions to prohibit the importation of goods to the United States made by benefit of human trafficking or forced labor.

PROTECT Act of 2003

The PROTECT Act (Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today) intends to protect children from abuse and sexual exploitation, a common element of child human trafficking.

Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000 (CAFRA)

The Department fights human smuggling and trafficking through the issuance of CAFRA, which provides notice to property owners whose properties have been identified as being used to facilitate smuggling or harboring aliens; it is an important tool because many employers turn a blind eye to the facilitation of criminal activity on their properties.

Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004

Section 7202 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act established the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center to achieve greater integration and overall effectiveness in the U.S. government's enforcement and other response efforts, and to work with foreign governments to address the separate but related issues of alien smuggling, trafficking in persons, and criminal support of clandestine terrorist travel.

The Mann Act of 1910

The Mann Act and its subsequent amendment resolutions makes it a felony to knowingly persuade, induce, entice, or coerce an individual to travel across state lines to engage in prostitution or attempts to do so. It is an effective tool used to prosecute human traffickers.

Source: Human Trafficking Laws & Regulations (2022), U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Vulnerable/Diverse Population:

As noted throughout, although exact figures are unavailable, it is estimated that several thousand foreign national children are sexually trafficked into the United States, and hundreds of thousands of American children are at risk of sexual trafficking within the United States each year (Human trafficking, 2022).

Theoretical Frameworks:

As also noted throughout, there are multiple factors that are involved in creating and sustaining an environment that is conducive to sex trafficking of children, including most especially their respective individual circumstances. This constraint means that a conventional theoretical framework lacks the robustness to develop a complete understanding of the antecedents of sexual trafficking and abuse. These limitations also mean that a multidisciplinary, integrated approach that draws on rational choice, economic theory, victim vulnerability and constitutive theory is needed (Mandisa & Lanier, 2012). In this regard, Mandisa and Lanier (2012) emphasize that, “An integrated model to explain human trafficking appears to be a logical step towards an understanding of the crime. An integrated model should help enhance the prevention and control strategies utilized to reduce human trafficking” (p. 27). This guidance suggests that a theoretical framework that takes into account the array of social, economic and emotional factors is best suited for understanding sexual trafficking of children and formulating appropriate interventions in response as discussed further below.

Section 2: Specialized Social Work Practice (6-8 pages)

Best Practices Literature Review:

The numerous social and economic factors that can lead to the sexual predation of children, an especially vulnerable population, make it clear that best practices must draw on evidence-based approaches. Evidence-based practice in social work settings was originally implemented in the 1990s based on the underlying concept that social work practice must transition into a research-based discipline (Finne et al., 2022). In response, social workers have since drawn on a number of evidence-based approaches to guide their practices, such as family therapy, motivational interviewing, trauma informed care, assertive community treatment and cognitive behavioral therapy, but numerous others as well. These and other evidence-based practices have been used to good effect in professions besides social work including health care and education (Evidence-based social work, 2022).

This trend is important because the concept of “evidence-based practice” is valuable for social workers seeking to ensure that the services they provide are optimal for the clientele they serve (Evidence-based social work, 2022). It is also important to note, though, that best practices are not static but rather change in response to the latest scientific evidence and validated empirical observations. For instance, according to the social work educators at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), “Evidence-based social work uses the most advanced evidence to inform practice, while also integrating practitioners’ clinical expertise with patients’ values and preferences” (Evidence-based social work, 2022, para. 4).

Likewise, although there is no “one-size-fits-all” evidence-based approach that works equally well in every unique situation, most especially those involving young children, social workers can use the evidence-based framework to determine which approach is most effective in a given set of circumstances (Reardon, 2016). In sum, evidence-based social work practice provides a valuable framework in which social workers can identify which interventional strategies are best suited to young people’s unique needs. In this regard, VCU social work educators also point out that, “Working within this scientific framework can help social workers determine what works, in what circumstances and for whom — a process that allows social workers to serve their clients effectively” (Evidence-based social work, 2022, para. 5).

Given the high human stakes that are involved in front-line social work practice, an evidence-based practice framework also empowers social workers with the self-efficacy they need to remain effective despite the challenging nature of their work. Moreover, the fact that evidence-based practices change over time means that social workers must remain vigilant concerning outdated methods that have been replaced with improved and more efficacious treatment strategies. More importantly, perhaps, an evidence-based framework encourages social workers to constantly review what is known in order to identify opportunities to improve their own practice by incorporating the findings from recently published studies (Evidence-based social work, 2022).

A growing body of scholarship in this area, however, indicates that many social workers experience multiple constraints when seeking to bridge their social work practice with evidence-based research and implement different interventional strategies with children in a timely and effective fashion (Finne et al., 2022). Because children are not “little adults” who respond to a given intervention is a fairly predictable fashion, the lives of young people are still full of magic, mystery and wonder as well as hidden terrors that adults can only image that require high individualized treatment. One strategy that has proven useful in this context is empowerment-based specialized social work practice which is discussed below.

Empowerment-Based Specialized Practice Description:

Notwithstanding the need for a constant review of current best practices, social workers can make a real difference in the lives of children, including those who are victims of sexual trafficking and abuse, by using an empowerment-based approach in their practice. Although other interventional strategies may be included in the treatment regimen for child sex trafficking victims, empowerment theory holds that social workers are most effective when they draw on their specific competencies that are needed in these complex situations. Further, empowerment-based specialized practice also provides social workers with a holistic picture of child sex trafficking victims so that informed interventions can be formulated that are in the best interests of the child (Empowerment method, 2022).

Furthermore, empowerment-based specialized social work practice also builds in incremental successes in ways that contribute to additional progress in addressing the underlying causes of child sex trafficking and interdicting when it is identified (Lwin & Beltrano, 2022). For example, social work educators at St. Ambrose University report that, “Empowerment is achieved through synchronized efforts that work with – not on – people, their relationships, and the impinging social and political environment. These simultaneous and coordinated efforts create a spiral of influences that initiate, sustain, and amplify empowered functioning” (Empowerment method, 2022, para. 5).

Engagement and Assessment:

The highly secretive nature of child sexual trafficking and abuse suggests that many, if not most, of its victims never encounter a community-based social workers unless it is court-ordered or when sufficient suspicion arises to warrant a follow-up by helping professionals. Assessments should include the quality of children’s lifestyle whether they remain with family members who are suspected of trafficking and abuse or if they are placed in foster care.

Intervention and Evaluation:

Empowered social workers have a number of interventional strategies available to them that might be useful and appropriate depending on sex trafficking victims’ unique circumstances, but one evidence-based approach that has proven efficacy for this purpose is motivational interviewing. In this regard, one social worker who specializes in helping child sex trafficking victims reports that, “An approach focused on motivational interviewing and stages of change can be an effective way to build trust and rapport with a youth sex trafficking victim” (Reardon, 2016, p. 1),

In support of this approach, Reardon (2016) cites a scenario in which victims are unwilling or unable to extricate themselves from their current lifestyle, and advises that social workers can intervene by helping ensure the safety of the youth victim as much as possible. In addition, in the event the circumstances of sex trafficking victims changes and they seek to change their lifestyle, social workers can also help them identify strategies to achieve this goal (Reardon, 2016). Moreover, motivational interviewing is highly congruent with social work values and ethics given its demonstrated efficacy as a social work intervention (LeNoue et al., 2017). In addition, motivational interviewing draws on social workers’ experience and training in establishing a therapeutic rapport in ways that intersect with the above-described empowerment theory.

It is important for social workers who believe a young person might be a sex trafficking victim to proceed cautiously, however, since victims may be reluctant to reveal their circumstances and direct confrontations may inhibit or destroy any chance of establishing the therapeutic trust and rapport that are essential to achieving optimal outcomes. Further, the so-called “Stockholm syndrome” is always a consideration in child sex trafficking and abuse cases. In this regard, Reardon (2016) cautions that, “Social workers need to be aware of the strong trauma bonding that often occurs between victims and their traffickers and realize that clinical interventions may not be viewed by victims as helping” (p. 10). Indeed, sex trafficking victims may come to believe that they are not in need of any intervention by social workers and will resist attempts to forge a therapeutic relationship. As Reardon (2016) concludes, “These kids go kicking and screaming [into services]. They don't feel that they've been rescued” (p. 10). In the event that social workers suspect child sex trafficking, they should ensure they comply with legal mandates to contact law enforcement and/or child welfare services; in addition, social workers are also advised to contact the toll-free U.S. National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline (888-373-7888) (Reardon, 2016).

While follow-up care may not always be possible with child sex trafficking victims since they may relocate without notice due to the exigencies of the trafficking industry and efforts by adult sexual predators to remain undetected, empowered social workers should attempt to regularly evaluate the victim’s current circumstances to determine if additional interventions on the part of law enforcement authorities are needed. Against this backdrop, it is clear that intervening in child sex trafficking and abuse cases is a complex and challenging enterprise that has several implications for professional social work as discussed below.

Section 3: Implications for Professional Social Work

Intersection with Core Values:

The social justice issue of sexual abuse and trafficking of children intersects with the core values of the NASW Code of Ethics in several areas, including most especially those set forth in Table 3 below.

Table 3

Intersection of NASW Code of Ethics with the Social Justice Issue of Sexual Abuse and Trafficking of Children

Code Section

Description

6.01 Social Welfare

Social workers should promote the general welfare of society, from local to global levels, and the development of people, their communities, and their environments. Social workers should advocate for living conditions conducive to the fulfillment of basic human needs and should promote social, economic, political, and cultural values and institutions that are compatible with the realization of social justice.

6.02 Public Participation

Social workers should facilitate informed participation by the public in shaping social policies and institutions.

6.04 Social and Political Action

(a) Social workers should engage in social and political action that seeks to ensure that all people have equal access to the resources, employment, services, and opportunities they require to meet their basic human needs and to develop fully. Social workers should be aware of the impact of the political arena on practice and should advocate for changes in policy and legislation to improve social conditions to meet basic human needs and promote social justice.

(b) Social workers should act to expand choice and opportunity for all people, with special regard for vulnerable, disadvantaged, oppressed, and exploited people and groups.

(d) Social workers should act to prevent and eliminate domination of, exploitation of, and discrimination against any person, group, or class on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, political belief, religion, immigration status, or mental or physical ability.

Although all of the above-cited sections of the NASW Code of Ethics are applicable to child sex trafficking and abuse, Section 6.04, Social and Political Action, is directly on-point concerning the need for social workers to help protect this vulnerable population.