January is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month. What’s the image that pops into your head? For many it’s international crime rings – nefarious underworld figures moving shipping containers. It’s probably Jeffrey Epstein. Increased media attention to sex trafficking has justifiably heightened public concern around the issue, but also contributed to a general misconception of how commercial sexual exploitation works, who it affects, and how to combat it. If we consider only the most salacious and sensationalized facets of sex trafficking, we neglect its most common victims, the ones we have the most power to protect: children in our own communities. 

Trafficking need not be across international or even state borders. It does not require kidnapping or organized networks. Wealthy white men are not the only predators; teenage girls are not the only targets. The truth is that sex trafficking happens in all communities, to all kinds of youth – girls, boys, young people who identify as LGBTQ, and children with developmental disabilities. In 2016, New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services reported nearly 2,500 youth were sexually exploited, including more than 700 boys and 150 young people who identify as transgender.

Stereotypes are partly why we’ve failed to recognize the prevalence of exploitation amongst boys. In New York State, boys make up an estimated 22 percent of trafficking victims. While this fact often surprises people, it is likely higher. Boys are socialized to not report sexual abuse of any kind. And while we know that boys who are sexually exploited are often used to traffic drugs, law enforcement professionals are typically not trained to identify the signs of trafficking in young men arrested on drug charges. 

Children with intellectual disabilities, also a high-risk population, are likewise put at risk through erroneous, infantilizing assumptions about their behaviors, sexual development, and reliance on their caregivers. Signs of grooming are often mistaken for affection; abuse is brushed off as caretaking.

Young people in foster care are targets because of the myriad vulnerabilities that landed them in the child welfare system in the first place. According to one 2007 study by the New York State Office of Children and Families, 85 percent of trafficked children had prior child welfare involvement.

Another hurdle to identifying sex trafficking is the fact that many victims are not initially aware that what is happening is wrong and therefore do not know to report it. Predators do not always use intimidation or violence but instead rely on charm and coercion to gain the trust of victims as well as their families. Young people can come to depend on their traffickers, who provide affection, attention, and gifts. A common sign of grooming is when a teenager suddenly owns expensive clothing and electronics his or her parents have not purchased. Traffickers also provide basics like food and shelter, which can make their false promises seem like a source of stability for vulnerable children. 

Anyone who encounters children can be a potential partner in the fight to reduce sex trafficking. It starts here at home, with the children right in front of us. More than a decade ago, JCCA, one of the largest child and family service providers in New York state, developed the first residential program on the East Coast for sexually exploited girls. More recently, we established the Center for Healing to treat children in other JCCA programs who have been abused, exploited or trafficked. Other agencies have also greatly expanded their capacity to serve victims of sex trafficking in recent years. 

Practice models are developing rapidly, as well as training for all kinds of adults who are involved in children’s lives. At JCCA we now employ a strength-based and harm reduction model when addressing the needs of our trafficking victims. We also offer training to outside organizations and professionals, like law enforcement, teachers and lawyers, to help them better recognize and intervene when it comes to the sexual exploitation of children. 

We need to reframe the current misconceptions of trafficking. It is important to recognize all the demographic categories of children affected by trafficking, in order to see beyond the “typical” victim. However, it is also true that sorting children into these categories perpetuates the stereotype of who is at risk. All children are at risk. By recognizing that this abuse can happen to any child, we can be better aware of the warning signs for all children.  

Jessie Boye-Doe is the director of JCCA’s Center for Healing in New York, which provides evidence-based, clinical services to children who have suffered sexual abuse or exploitation.