It is crucial to recognize that anyone can be a trafficker. The people that children love and trust the most can sometimes use that trust to harm them. Trafficking does not always look like it does in the movies, where a stranger kidnaps a child and takes them to a foreign country or locks them away. A trafficker can be a longtime family friend, neighbor, boyfriend, girlfriend, family member, or sometimes it can be a stranger. Preventing trafficking starts with the understanding that anyone can be a trafficker and the awareness of how traffickers groom children.

What is Grooming?

Grooming is when a predator builds a relationship with a child in order to abuse or exploit them. It is a process where they slowly gain the child’s trust and use it to persuade, entice, coerce, control, isolate, or abuse their victims emotionally, physically, or sexually. A groomer often comes across as charming, helpful, and kind at first, but their behavior can escalate to threats, violence, or other types of coercion to force a child into sexual activities or forced labor. It is important to note that a child cannot consent to sexual activities.

Groomers often gain the trust of parents first, so they have access to their children. Some traffickers may even date single parents to target their children. Be aware of who children are talking to and who they are spending time with.

It should be emphasized that not every adult a child has a relationship with is trying to groom them. Most family friends, teachers, coaches, youth pastors, club leaders, and relatives genuinely care for the children in their lives. However, as a reminder, anyone can be a trafficker. Pay attention to who your child or student is spending time with. If something doesn’t seem right, talk with the child or student, and if you suspect they are being groomed or trafficked, immediately report it to the police.

How Are They Trafficking?

Traffickers need trust, loyalty, or power over their victims. A child’s boyfriend, girlfriend, or friend could be their trafficker. The trafficker may even force their victim to recruit others into being trafficked by pushing them to make friends at school for that purpose. Children are often still going to school and living normal lives while they are being trafficked during evenings or weekends.

Traffickers often target runaways. Young people typically run away due to their home life. They may feel unsafe, unloved, or unwanted, and they run away to find physical or emotional safety, acceptance, and connection. Some young people run away to find their biological mother or father, escape from rules they view as highly restrictive, to live with their romantic partner, or to gain a sense of independence. Traffickers may approach a young person who has run away with an offer of safety, a free place to stay, a free meal, or even love and attention. The young person is now indebted to them, they feel they can’t leave, or the option to return home feels less safe than staying.

It is important to note that although there are things that can make someone more vulnerable to being trafficked, there is nothing a child did or did not do to cause their own victimization. No one asked for it or brought it upon themselves. The responsibility lies only with the trafficker.