Child Exploitation

Child trafficking is a form of child abuse. It is the exploitation of children for economic or sexual purposes, and includes the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of a child for exploitation. Children may be sold, illegally adopted, forced into early marriage, recruited into the armed forces, pushed into prostitution, or trafficked to work in mines, factories, or homes. In such environments they are exposed to extreme forms of abuse and are denied access to basic services and the meeting of their fundamental human rights. Trafficked children often lack basic legal status and support networks, making their condition virtually "invisible."

Children without parental care, living in poverty, and those in high risk environments such as war affected regions, are all highly vulnerable to trafficking. Conflict and post conflict environments pose the greatest risk to children since the breakdown in family and social systems, the increase in poverty, and large numbers of troops present, are all factors which make sexual and economic exploitation of children more common.

Prevention is crucial to reduce the incidence of children affected and includes the registering of all displaced children, and their temporary care until verification and family reunification activities can take place. All children, caretakers, and communities should be educated on the risks to children and protective steps to ensure children do not become separated and exposed to abuse and exploitation. Where possible, unaccompanied children should be placed in regulated and protective family environments such as kinship or foster care.

Governments, the police, border controls, teachers, and all organizations responsible for protection must work together to prevent trafficking, identify those children at risk, advocate for their safety, and prosecute those responsible. This includes awareness raising for communities, institutions, and personnel working with vulnerable groups, such as armed forces, peacekeepers, and humanitarian workers.

Support services for children who have been trafficked should include medical, psychosocial, family reunification, and legal elements, to facilitate the reintegration of the child into the community and to enable educational and economic opportunities which are in the child’s best interests.

This section of documents examines the nature of trafficking in more detail, and includes policy and practical information to prevent and respond to child exploitation.

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Are We Serving Orphans? How churches are transitioning to best-practice care

Ellen Livingood - Postings, 01 Sep 2018

This article by Ellen Livingood in Volume 13, Issue 9 of Postings describes the ways in which Christian churches and faith communities are moving away from orphanage volunteering to supporting other forms of care for children.

Inequalities in US Child Protection: The Case of Sex Trafficked Youth

Lisa Werkmeister Rozas, Jason Ostrander, and Megan Feely - Social Sciences, 13 Aug 2018

This article demonstrates how structural social work theory and critical consciousness development can be used to help facilitate a transition from a deficit model approach to an inequities perspective in a child welfare system that was working to improve the identification of and services for domestic minor sex trafficked youth (DMST).

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Assessing risk of commercial sexual exploitation among children involved in the child welfare system

Carlomagno C. Panlilio, Sheridan Miyamoto, Sarah A. Font, Hannah M. C. Schreier - Child Abuse & Neglect, 01 Aug 2018

The objective of this study was to assess item characteristics indicative of the severity of risk for commercial sexual exploitation among a high-risk population of child welfare system involved youth to inform the construction of a screening tool.

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Assessing risk of commercial sexual exploitation among children involved in the child welfare system

Carlomagno C. Panlilio, Sheridan Miyamoto, Sarah A. Font, Hannah M. C. Schreier - Child Abuse & Neglect, 01 Aug 2018

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Todavía en peligro: Volunturismo internacional, segregación y abuso de niñas, niños y adolescentes en Guatemala

Disability Rights International, 16 Jul 2018

Este informe documenta violaciones a derechos humanos, explotación y trata de niñas, niños y adolescentes con y sin discapacidad en instituciones Guatemala.

Dear Volunteer

Forget Me Not and The Umbrella Foundation, 16 Jul 2018

This animated video from Forget Me Not and The Umbrella Foundation, tells the story of a young child placed in an orphanage and highlights the pain and trauma of family separation, the impacts of a revolving door of volunteers on children in institutions, and the ways in which volunteering fuels the orphanage industry.

Still in harm’s way: International voluntourism, segregation and abuse of children in Guatemala

Disability Rights International, 16 Jul 2018

This report from Disability Rights International documents the human rights violations, exploitation, and trafficking of children with and without disabilities in Guatemala.

Country Care Review: Russian Federation

Better Care Network, 03 Jul 2018

This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Adversity and intervention needs among girls in residential care with experiences of commercial sexual exploitation

Kristine Hickle & Dominique Roe-Sepowitz - Children and Youth Services Review, 02 Jul 2018

This paper will report on a study comparing case files for girls victimized (n = 73) and not victimized (n = 62) by commercial sexual exploitation who were living in a residential care setting in a large southwestern city in the United States.

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Community-Based Global Learning: The Theory and Practice of Ethical Engagement at Home and Abroad

Eric Hartman, Richard Kiely, Christopher Boettcher, and Jessica Friedrichs - Stylus Publishing, LLC, 01 Jul 2018

This book gathers and develops theoretical insights and practical tools to support ethical global learning through community-campus partnerships like those described in its pages. The book outlines some of the risks of global service learning, including the harmful impacts of orphanage volunteering.