Recognizing signs of child exploitation

Have you ever been out and about – maybe traveling or just running errands – and suddenly your counselor senses start tingling? It’s that feeling in your gut that tells you something is off. This has happened to me more times than I can count. Often the moment has passed by the time I realize I might be onto something, and I wonder why I didn’t realize it sooner. And if I had, what could or should I have done?

As educators and mandatory reporters, we’ve all had moments of feeling powerless, when we suspect something is wrong but aren’t sure what it is. It’s hard to know that you may have missed an opportunity to speak up for someone who may be experiencing abuse or exploitation. Sometimes the signs are obvious; other times they’re so subtle that we wonder if what we’ve noticed is real or just our imagination. This doesn’t just happen in the community; it can happen right in our schools. We can sense that something is wrong but lack the concrete evidence to back up our instincts. We know there’s a possibility that it’s happening, but we don’t feel confident or knowledgeable enough to report it.

One area where many school counselors are unsure is recognizing and understanding sex trafficking.

Understanding Sex Trafficking: A Call to Action for School Counselors

So, what exactly is sex trafficking? Sex trafficking, or Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC), is defined as the “recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or acquisition of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act where the person induced to perform such act is under 18 years of age” (Source: Ending the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children: A Call for Multi-System Collaboration in California). Because this exploitation involves minors, school counselors will inevitably encounter students who are victims. Unfortunately, we do not always recognize the signs of exploitation or abuse.

CSEC is a huge industry, often hidden or normalized in society. According to statistics from California and Georgia, the sexual exploitation of minors is a $32 billion a year business, with exploiters earning up to $32,000 a week. To maintain this income, traffickers exploit over 100,000 youth each year. The prime recruitment ages are shockingly young: 12-14 for females and 11-13 for males and transgender youth. These children are trafficked into a variety of industries, including prostitution, massage parlors, pornography, and stripping.

So who would do something like this to a child? Disturbingly, it is often people close to the youth: parents or relatives, neighbors, lovers, gang members, and even peers.

Recognizing and preventing human trafficking in our schools

Yes, it’s true: Even peers can be traffickers. While we can’t control recruitment efforts that occur outside of school, we can focus on what’s happening inside our own walls. Traffickers can recruit students on or near campus and use other students to lure their peers into vulnerable situations. Once a young person enters the world of CSEC, he or she is often difficult to identify because he or she doesn’t seek help, distrusts authority, and may be fleeing difficult situations at home. This makes recognizing a victim of CSEC particularly difficult. To make matters worse, many schools don’t have policies in place to effectively respond to these situations.

Despite these challenges, school counselors are uniquely positioned to spot youth exploitation. We can pick up on warning signs and red flags that others might overlook or ignore. Here are a few warning signs that may indicate a student is involved in CSEC:

By trusting our instincts and deepening our knowledge, we can better protect our students and be the advocates they need. Let’s remain vigilant and work to make our schools safe havens for all students.

Taking Action: How You Can Help Combat CSEC in Schools

Now that you know CSEC is happening in schools, what can you do to help? There are three levels of prevention you can participate in to raise awareness among students and staff.

1. Primary prevention
Raise awareness at your school among both staff and students. For example, you can raise awareness about CSEC each January by participating in the Blue Campaign, a federal initiative to raise awareness of human trafficking in various sectors, including schools. You can order materials such as posters, brochures, and tip cards, many of which are available for free. The Department of Homeland Security also offers short videos that you can add to your school’s website.

2. Secondary prevention
Provide training for both staff and students to create awareness about CSEC. Below are some valuable resources for this purpose:

3. Tertiary prevention
Help your board create or administer policies to protect students. It is critical to be familiar with your district’s policies regarding mandatory reporting and assisting students who may be victims of sex trafficking. Below is a sample protocol for school counselors from Safe Supportive Learning.

By adopting these levels of prevention, we can have a significant impact on our schools, ensuring that we are not only aware of the signs of CSEC, but also prepared to act effectively. Let’s work together to create safer environments for our students and protect them from the dangers of exploitation.