What We Do
Trafficking of U.S. Children for Sexual Exploitation
American children under 18 years old are commercially sexually exploited in communities throughout the country. The University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work, in a report published in 2001, estimated 200,000 to 300,000 children currently are at high risk for being involved in commercial sexual exploitation. The federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act definition identifies these children as victims of human trafficking. Unfortunately, they are often not recognized as innocent victims worthy of protection and support but rather are treated as bad children who should be arrested and reformed.
Children who are commercially sexually exploited in the U.S. include both boys and girls and represent every income group, race, class and geographic area. They may be found in strip clubs and in other sexual performance venues, in brothels, at escort services and on the street. Very frequently the children who are vulnerable to sexual exploitation are from families where they suffered neglect and physical or sexual abuse.
In 2005 ECPAT-USA published “Who Is There to Help Us: How the System Fails Sexually Exploited Girls in the United States.”
