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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: Domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) survivors are disproportionately involved in the juvenile justice system, but frequently run away and experience retrafficking. However, little research explores how practitioners who work with juvenile justice-involved DMST survivors address such dynamics.
OBJECTIVE: This study examines challenges related to chronic runaway behaviors and related retrafficking of juvenile justice-involved DMST survivors from the perspective of practitioners. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: 35 in-depth interviews were conducted with social service and justice system practitioners working with DMST survivors in a Midwestern metropolitan area.
METHODS: Inductive analysis of the transcribed interviews involved a multi-phase, independent co-coding process conducted by three members of the research team, including selective coding, open coding, and taxonomic analysis to identify recurring themes and subthemes. Core themes that focused on challenges experienced by practitioners working with minors who chronically ran away and returned to a trafficking situation were further developed.
RESULTS: Practitioners reported that their ability to provide care to minors returning to trafficking situations was limited because of their informal authority in the juvenile justice system, inaccessibility of residential therapeutic care and drug treatment, and punitive measures directed toward parents seeking assistance from Children's Division. Provider narratives indicated that without effective interventions, minors typically exit a retrafficking situation only after experiencing emotional distress, extreme violence, pregnancy or birth, or contracting an STI.
CONCLUSIONS: Non-punitive responses to address chronic runaway behaviors and retrafficking of minors in the justice system include: placement with foster families trained in dynamics of sex trafficking, trauma, and runaway behaviors; safety planning including risk assessments and providing resource information about drop in centers and healthcare; revising hotlining procedures for concerned parents; and increasing minors' access to trauma-informed residential care, therapeutic care, and substance use treatment by legislatively expanding healthcare coverage under Safe Harbor laws.
Keywords: Human trafficking;
Language: en |