Modern Day Slavery: The Sex Trafficking of Children

It is now that I work in the social work field that I have realized the extremity of the sex trafficking of children.

As a Children’s Social Worker, I have learned that children under the care of the child welfare system and in foster care are more vulnerable than we think. Unnoticeably, children get lured into this type of life without even taking into account the dangers they will face and how difficult it will be to find an escape route. Regrettably, the sexual exploitation of children is an underground social issue and it is considered as one of the most prevalent forms of modern-day slavery. Little attention is paid to this crime because it targets children who have no one, no family members to support them, no one permanent in their life to consistently watch over them and guide them to a good path.

Children’s minds are barely developing as they age and may lack healthy autonomous characteristics. Foster children have had interrupted relationships with their biological family members since their entry into the foster care system, thus lacking a secure attachment form. That is why when a child in the foster care system is approached by a sex trafficker (also known as a “John” in the streets), their immediate reaction will be to create a bond with that person if they received love from them in efforts to obtain the care and attention they have lacked.

Through the advocacy of this issue and simply through having conversations about this matter, I think we can help tackle this issue by creating more awareness and spreading knowledge. This is something we can do at the micro level in society to help combat the issue of sex trafficking among children. Can you help our children?