Anti-Trafficking Professionals' Perspectives and Experiences Engaging Families with Interventions to Respond to Sex Trafficking of Minors

PurposeThis study explores the perspectives and experiences of legal and social service providers working with families to respond to sex trafficking of minors post-identification. Specifically, the study examines the benefits and challenges encountered by professionals working to engage family members of juvenile legal system-involved sex trafficking survivors with interventions, and the practices they used to address challenges and facilitate benefits.MethodsThrough inductive analysis of 30 in-depth interviews, the current study examines the experiences of social service and legal system professionals directly working with family members of minors experiencing sex trafficking in a Midwestern metropolitan region of the U.S. The recorded interviews were professionally transcribed, and a four member research team engaged in a paired multi-phase co-coding process to uncover core themes and subthemes.ResultsSocial service and legal system professionals described benefits of working with family members included engagement with interventions, which they associated with positive outcomes for the child. Professionals described challenges to providing services to minors experiencing sex trafficking occurred when it was difficult to engage family members with interventions. Barriers to service engagement included anger and blame directed at the child, the stigma of therapy, and family members' unaddressed issues with their own victimization. The complex realities of family members' lives, such as inaccessibility of transportation, work conflicts, and housing insecurity, also posed challenges to service engagement.ConclusionsThe present study highlights promising practices for working with family members of minors involved in sex trafficking situations. Such practices included facilitating engagement with interventions by addressing inaccessibility of needed resources, as well as holding team meetings in locations accessible to family members and working with their schedules. Practices also included framing family therapy as part of their child's goal setting, avoiding judgement and blame of family members, and building rapport and trust.