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The commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), or domestic minor sex trafficking, occurs in the context of vulnerabilities often created by social systems. Children who lack access to supportive services and supervision, awareness and prevention education, and ability to report abuse are at higher risk of exploitation and abuse. Youth and families involved with child welfare will be discussed regarding risk factors, as will special considerations for intervention and prevention. CSEC risk and response within child welfare will be explored from a vulnerability theory framework, which conceptualizes risk within the context of societal supports such as mental health care, education and economic systems, and the accessibility of services. Practice recommendations are provided.
Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is the selling or trading of sex by a minor in exchange for anything of value with or without a third-party facilitator (i.e., trafficker), also often called domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST; Franchino-Olsen et al., 2020). The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA, 2000) defines adults who engage in commercial sexual exchanges with minor children as engaging in sex trafficking, regardless of the presence of force, fraud, or coercion, which is required in the trafficking of adults.
Child welfare systems are mandated to address trafficking in specific ways through federal legislation (Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 [P.L. 114-22]; Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families [PSTSF] Act [P.L. 113-183]). This presents both challenges and opportunities for a system that is from one perspective overburdened and under-resourced, while also particularly well positioned given its child safety and well-being mission, intervention mandate, and expectation of multi-system referral and collaboration, which are widely regarded as hallmarks of effective response to CSEC.
The child welfare system intersects in complex ways with CSEC risk factors, experiences, and impacts and is often not conceptually well understood or studied with empirical rigor. It is not possible at this time to estimate the prevalence of CSEC in the larger population or among youth involved with child welfare (Finkelhor et al., 2017; National Research Council, 2013) due to limitations and differences across studies and reporting systems regarding definitions and methods, as well as factors such as its hidden and criminalized nature, stigma and shame that discourages reporting, and bias in systems. Victim (and offender)...