Closing the Gaps: The Need to Improve Identification and Services to Child Victims of Trafficking

Abstract

Human trafficking for sexual exploitation and forced labor is believed to be one of the fastest growing areas of criminal activity. The vast majority of victims of severe forms of trafficking are women and children. The particular vulnerability of child victims, related to biophysiological, social, behavioral, and cognitive phases of the maturity process, distinguishes them from adult victims and underscores the necessity of special attention to their particular needs. In the United States, most trafficking victims, but particularly child victims, go unidentified and even fewer gain access to the services developed to help them break free from their traffickers and reintegrate into the wider society. This paper uses a case study approach to examine the inadequacies and service gaps in the system established in the United States to care for child victims of trafficking. The case study is discussed within a broader context of the evolution of the system of care available to child victims of trafficking, including the transfer of care of undocumented children in federal custody from the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).