Today’s guest blogger is Jodie Glaspie.
The article “Protecting foster kids from sex trafficking” by Thanh Tan, focuses on foster kids being more susceptible to being coerced by sex traffickers into prostitution. Every month, more than 100 kids in Washington run away from foster care. In Washington’s King County at least 500 minors work in the commercial sex trade industry, it is believed that more than half of these minors are in the foster care system. Thanh argues that though Washington is legally responsible for foster kids coerced into prostitution, Child Protective Services has not began addressing their dilemmas. Sex trafficking remains outside the realm of Child Protection Services as it responds to cases where children are abused by family members and caregivers, but not to cases of pimps or strangers who pay them to perform sexual acts. This is true for many states around the country. The author argues that no matter how overloaded the system gets; CPS should identify victims and move beyond simply placing these kids in homes where foster parents may lack training.
It is argued that the victims have low self-esteem and are looking to replace love they never had. Melinda Giovengo, executive director of YouthCare in Seattle reports “The underlying cause is the abuse and neglect that led them to foster care and the abuse and neglect they’ve experienced in foster care.” According to the author, when parents fail their children and give them up to the state, they are exposing them to a foster-care bureaucracy that is not equipped to protect each and every child from predators. Sexual exploitation of kids becomes a problem the rest of us cannot ignore. It is argued that there is a need to hire more trained staff to find missing foster children and that once these children are found it is also critical to get them involved with mental health services and treatment.
It is unknown if the author of this article has any personal or profession experience in working with children in foster care and/or foster children who have been exploited. It seems the author has provided facts pertaining to Seattle’s child welfare system, as well as the connection between foster care children and the sex trafficking industry. However, while there is a connection to foster children and the sex trafficking industry, the connection in terms of number of children who are exploited may vary in different states. It seems that it is the authors opinion is that the state being the legal guardian of the foster children who run away, needs to act with urgency to find the children before predators do.
This article highlights the connection between foster care and sex trafficking, which is strength, especially due to the lack of research surrounding the connection of foster care children and sex trafficking. However, although this article sheds light on this issue, there are no suggestions for preventing foster children from running away and being trafficked. There is also a lack of suggestions as to how Child Protective Services should effectively respond to foster children being sexually exploited and preventative steps Child Protection workers should take.
Due to the fact that youth who have been involved in illegal activities, including those in commercial sex industries, have traditionally been viewed as offenders or delinquents, there are still people who fail to see these children as victims. This article promotes the idea/myth that a high number of children in foster care are more likely to be involved in the juvenile and criminal justice systems.