Human Trafficking Might Scare You, But it Should Scare Foster Kids a Lot More by Chloe Barnes

In the United States, approximately 17,500 people are trafficked each year. Yeah, it’s a lot more than you thought. Most of these people are just like you and I until they are taken from their normal lives and put in an unfamiliar and cruel world. Human trafficking is an experince that no one should have to go through. One of the most highly trafficked groups of people is people in the foster care system, as children who are a part of this group are insanely vulnerable to the traffickers. My friend was a part of the foster care system growing up and never knew who to trust or if she was safe. This is not a way that children should ever have to feel. Right now, nothing is being done to stop this growing issue, and I believe the foster care system needs to be reformed to prevent human trafficking.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A study done by NYU scientists states, “...the U.S. Analyses found high levels of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among the study participants, and that although the differences were nonsignificant, sex trafficking survivors reported more pre-trafficking childhood abuse, sexual and physical violence during trafficking, and worse psychological symptoms (including comorbid depression and PTSD) than labor trafficking survivors” (Le, PhuongThao). This shows that many people who were victims of human trafficking suffered prior trauma; and the PTSD and depression worsened even after they exited human trafficking rings. People with former trauma are more vulnerable to human trafficking, therefore making foster children a big target. If there was a better foster care system that helped children understand their prior events instead of suffering from PTSD their entire lives, they would be less vulnerable to the traffickers.
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One may be surprised to learn that according to the National Youth Foster Insitute, 60% of child sex trafficking victims are or were a part of the foster care system. This is an example of the foster care system leaving a lasting impact of vulnerability on children, which leads to the higher risk of being trafficked. If the foster care system reformed to make the children in the system feel less vulnerable and powerless, then they would be less prone to human traffickers and the numbers of human trafficking could decrease exponentially.
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In an interview with the Atlantic, Fiona David, executive director of global research for the organization Walk Free talked about how “it is shocking '' that modern slavery still occurs today and that people do not even realize it is happening in first world countries, right around them. This portrays that people do not understand the impact that these systems have on everyone in our society. If we educated people on the trafficking and slavery that occur in the US, that will make everyone, including foster children, less vulnerable.
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To find out more, I asked 15 students from Coleytown Middle School how much they knew about human trafficking. 86.7% of students didn’t know very much about the issue at all. This high percentage shows that this issue should be addressed more, especially since 33.3% of those people know someone who is or was in the foster care system and is especially vulnerable to human trafficking. We need to teach children more about human trafficking as they could be or know someone who could be greatly affected by it.
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Although the foster care system is greatly impacted by human trafficking, there are other groups like immigrants that are also affected. For example, the Human Trafficking Hotline states, “Foreign nationals who are trafficked within the United States face unique challenges that may leave them more susceptible to trafficking and exploitation. In 2013, 32% of calls with high indicators of human trafficking to the NHTRC referenced foreign nationals” (Human Trafficking Hotline, sec. 6). While other groups that are highly trafficked need attention too, the children from the foster care system make up a bigger portion of children trafficked, and children are what the human traffickers are looking for.
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The US is a melting pot of problems that are not always seen from the outside. Most of them, like human trafficking, are still going unresolved, probably for a long time. There is not one source to any issue, and there are many ways for us to attempt the slow of human trafficking. However, to successfully bring down the numbers of children who are vulnerable to trafficking in the US, we must start by reforming the foster care system.

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