By Umar Manzoor Shah
Survivors and child welfare experts have called for sweeping reforms to ensure protection of children in foster care, saying they are among the most vulnerable to human trafficking because of trauma, instability and broken support systems.
They were speaking at a Jul 30 webinar, “Breaking the Cycle: Protecting Foster Youth from Human Trafficking,” organized by the Alliance to End Human Trafficking, a US-based network of Catholic nuns.
Alliance’s program director Christine Commerce said the online meet was intended to equip participants with practical knowledge to recognize exploitation, advocate for stronger protections and support prevention efforts.
Daniela Deas, a survivor of commercial sexual exploitation who now advises the US Department of Justice on trafficking issues, said many misconceptions continue to shape public understanding of trafficking among foster youth.
“The trafficking happens way before children enter foster care,” she said.
“Trafficking is the outcome of unmet needs, exposure to poverty, domestic violence, child abuse and adverse childhood experiences.”
Deas warned that foster care systems must become more “trauma-informed” instead of assuming children will immediately adapt to new environments after removal from abusive homes.
“Prevention and intervention really need to be at the front door,” she said. “From the moment a child is removed from a home and placed into care, they need education, safety and trusted relationships.”
Savannah Parvu, another survivor who was trafficked by her mother before entering foster care, shared a deeply personal account of continued exploitation after she was placed under state protection.
“I continued to be trafficked while I was in foster care,” she said, recalling that some staff members at a residential treatment facility had ties to her traffickers.
“I was where I was supposed to be getting protected, but I continued to be exploited.”
Parvu challenged one of the most common assumptions surrounding foster youth.
“One of the myths is that youth in foster care get trafficked when they run away. Normally, trafficking is happening before that, and oftentimes before they even go into foster care,” she said.
She also described why many children fail to report abuse.
“Adults either didn’t notice, didn’t believe me, or couldn’t protect me. When that becomes your experience, reporting doesn’t feel safe. It feels more risky,” she said.
Lisa Shalhoub, who was born into trafficking and later entered foster care, said systems often mistake trauma responses for delinquent behavior.
“I still hear often that the youth is not being trafficked, that they’re just fast, that they’re making these decisions and they need to be punished,” she said.
“We’re still shaming and blaming the youth within foster care.”
Shalhoub said children frequently face repeated victimization because abuse has become normalized in their lives.
“When you remove the child, people think they’ve been saved,” she said, while adding that traffickers deliberately seek environments where vulnerable children are concentrated.
The speakers also warned social media has become one of the primary tools used by traffickers to identify and groom vulnerable youth.
Deas urged caregivers to pay close attention to children’s online activities, unexplained gifts, sudden behavioral changes, multiple social media accounts and relationships with significantly older individuals.
“A trafficker can sit on a couch and contact hundreds of youths at once,” Shalhoub said, describing how predators exploit online platforms to identify children expressing loneliness, conflict at home or emotional distress.
Expert analysis from St. John’s University in New York reveals foster youth encounter a 157 percent greater risk of sex trafficking. – UCA News
