Child Sex and Labor Trafficking

Abstract This chapter explores the trafficking of children for sex and labor globally, with particular emphasis on experiences of trauma and violence prior to and while being trafficked. Complex, intersecting, and compounding vulnerabilities are reviewed, including individual violence exposure and maltreatment, parent and caregiving factors, systems involvement, vulnerability of youth from marginalized populations, and poverty and economic factors. The impacts of trafficking are often severe. In particular, trafficked children experience very high rates of trauma, significant posttraumatic stress symptoms, and other deleterious mental health outcomes. These impacts and emerging effective interventions are reviewed and implications for public policy and directions for future research are discussed.