Foster Care and Human Trafficking: Why Children in the System Are at Risk

Anyone can become a victim of human trafficking.   

While every individual can possess specific characteristics that make them more vulnerable to trafficking, there is one population to be highlighted in this article: youths in the foster care system. It is because of this population’s unique characteristics—namely, children who often lack stable adult relationships or a place to comfortably call home—that they deserve a stable increase in awareness of their needs.  

Children can be placed into the foster care system for a number of reasons. Overall, these reasons fall under one umbrella: the child belongs to an environment where their parents are unable to care for them. The foster care system, therefore, is designed to ensure the child’s safety and health. While the system’s placements are temporary, its goal is to find a permanent and secure situation for the child to live in, whether it be through reuniting them with their biological relatives, adoption, or other long-term arrangements.  

Unfortunately, reality does not always meet expectations. Many children in the foster care system find themselves in unsafe, unstable, and unwanted situations. Because of this, many children, especially those in their teenage years, run away from their foster placements. Understandably so: they are children, after all. Research suggests that certain demographic groups may be more likely to run away due to physical or mental abuse experienced in a foster care setting, which, in turn, increases their chances of being trafficked. In the United States, these groups include people of color, specifically those of African American or Hispanic descent; members of the LGBTQ+ community; those with adverse mental health or substance abuse history; children with multiple placements; siblings who have been separated; women; and teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17, especially if said teenagers did not enter the system until these later years (Latzman & Gibbs, 2020; Smith, 2021). 

Individuals over the age of 18 with a background in the foster system, too, are at increased risk of trafficking. In most states, if a child does not obtain a permanent placement by the time they are 18 years old, they are emancipated, or aged out of the system. Emancipation is the outcome experienced by about 9% of youth in the United States, but about 83.5% of this group had entered the system after turning 12 (The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2025). When a child is aged out, they may feel lonely, abandoned, or uncertain of how to navigate adulthood. (Or, at least, what is called adulthood, despite these individuals still being young, inexperienced, and in need of a guide.) 

When a child or teen runs away, or when they are emancipated, traffickers see an opportunity to exploit them for profit. Frequently, a trauma bond is formed between the trafficker and their young victims (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2023, p. 11). A primary reason why is because traffickers lure children by falsely promising everything the system claimed to provide: stable adult relationships and a place to call “home.” Sometimes, when past foster parents were unfit for a child, the latter may not know any better than to accept what their new parental figure offers. Thus young individuals may normalize these unhealthy relationships. They may equate any special attention from their abuser to being cared after like never before (Selig, 2018, p. 85; Smith, 2021). Traffickers may offer housing, money, or even drugs—anything that can be persuaded to fulfill the basic familial, physical, and emotional needs of youth (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2023, p. 4; Latzman & Gibbs, 2020). 

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates that 19% of runaways from foster care experienced sex trafficking. Moreover, the National Foster Youth Institute estimates that 60% of child sex trafficking victims have been involved in foster care or another part of the child welfare system (Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, 2023). However, these estimates are largely unknown for a variety of factors, namely, a lack of self-identification due to trauma or trauma bonds; a lack of screening to identify victims and consequent underreporting; and a lack of resources available to survivors after disclosure, which could discourage youths from speaking out and speaking up (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2023, pp. 2-3). 

When a child or youth is trafficked (or when anyone is trafficked, for that matter), they may be abused or neglected physically, medically, emotionally, or sexually. For example, they may be beaten, verbally tortured, starved, or sexually exploited via child prostitution, pornography, or public performances. Physical ailments can result from this abuse, including malnutrition, broken bones, sexually transmitted infections, inadequate hygiene, or other internal and external injuries. Behavioral needs may also arise after this abuse, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder, depression, and substance use disorder (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2023, pp. 9-11).  

However, not every victim of trafficking suffers from this abuse the same way. They are not always missing, hidden, or trapped in the way most imagine them to be. Sometimes, a child who is trafficked may be inside their own homes, participating in schools, sports, and other extracurricular activities. In other words, they are not always trapped physically, but they can still experience psychological torture (Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, 2023).  

Here, it is clear: child victims of human trafficking, such as those with a history in the foster care system, deserve an increase in awareness of their needs. More than awareness, however, they deserve action.  

In order to protect children from the horrors of human trafficking, child welfare agencies, notably professionals involved in foster care, must prioritize the task they were designed to accomplish: helping children safely transition into family-like settings and establish healthy relationships with trusted adults. To achieve this, professionals must first ensure the safety of a child’s placement, and then—to discourage running away—they must help the child understand such safety. Such efforts can include implementing thorough screenings of families and caretakers that are used consistently, for every placement inside the United States, as well as training protocols for staff to be able to recognize risk factors and signs of trafficking and proper services for its victims (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2023, pp. 10-11, 18; Selig, 2018, p. 84).  

Beyond safety measures, professionals in the system must promote physical, mental, and behavioral health services, and programs that encourage senses of belonging. In other words, they should ensure that each child feels looked after and wanted. This includes efforts that prioritize wellbeing in the following fields: medicine, education, employment, law, and mentorship. For instance, foster care professionals must guarantee that their youth receive frequent medical exams and can easily access healthcare services when required, whether it be for physical or mental needs (such as therapy). Other aims should include offering different education options—traditional and nontraditional alike; employment, especially in cases without legal work experience or diplomas, by providing GED classes, job training, internships, and so on; legal assistance with crimes that were the result of the trafficking; legal protection from their traffickers; and a guide for navigating life’s essential skills, such as managing personal finances, opening a bank account, searching for affordable housing, keeping medical records, and sending and receiving mail, to name a few (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2023, pp. 9-10; Selig, 2018, 86).  

These efforts require teamwork from educators, healthcare providers, nonprofit agencies, law enforcement, district attorneys’ offices, and policymakers. These personnel must partake in specialized training to not only recognize signs of human trafficking but to comfortably approach and assist its victims. They also require collaboration between trusted family members and caregivers and, if desired, survivors of human trafficking who can use their experiences to prevent similar tragedies from arising in others (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2023, p. 13; Selig, 2018, 86).  

Moreover, beyond what professionals can do, there is what you, the reader, can do.  

Community advocacy and campaigns are essential to confronting the flaws of the foster care system and combatting traffickers. Not only can a widespread increase in awareness help equip bystanders with the skills needed to assist trafficking victims, but it can help these young victims, too, recognize their situations—especially when such situations are between a foster child and an adult they are groomed to admire. When working together, it is much, much easier to coordinate strategies, identify trends, and create services for survivors who struggle with either escaping their situation or adjusting after they are freed.  

If you suspect a youth is a victim of trafficking, report to law enforcement. Safety, as always, is first. Other ways to assist youth victims and survivors involves the securing of basic needs. Resources such as food vouchers, monetary donations for groceries and other essentials, and information sessions with professionals about how to prevent traumatization and promote trust within the foster system are key to growth. You can also fight for change in the system and policies surrounding it, such as advocating for increased screenings of caretakers or by raising the age for emancipation to 21. Building communities of stability are vital, as again, stability and security is what children in the foster care system need most. It is up to the community to demand change and safe relationships between vulnerable youth and trusted adults—to become the family that protects each other from harm.  

But communities—such as the team at Because Organization, a nonprofit specializing in providing resources for survivors of human trafficking—can’t demand change alone. We need members, supporters, and advocates. To learn more about our cause and the survivors we assist, visit https://www.becauseorganization.org/  or https://www.becauseorganization.org/information.  

Because, again: Everyone deserves a family. Everyone deserves belonging. And everyone deserves hope.  

References 

Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2023, April). Human trafficking and child welfare: A guide for child welfare agencies. https://www.childwelfare.gov/resources/human-trafficking-and-child-welfare-guide-child-welfare-agencies/ 

Iowa Department of Health and Human Services. (2023, June). Human trafficking: Safety of children in foster care. 

Latzman, N. E., & Gibbs, D. (2020). Examining the link: Foster care runaway episodes and human trafficking. OPRE Report No. 2020-143. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

Selig, E. (2018). Statistically Speaking: The Overrepresentation of Foster Youth in Sex Trafficking. Children’s Legal Rights Journal, 38(1), 84–86. https://lawecommons.luc.edu/clrj/vol38/iss1/8 

Smith, M. (2021, May 20). The foster care system and human trafficking. Freedom Network USA. https://freedomnetworkusa.org/2021/05/20/the-foster-care-system-and-human-trafficking/ 

The Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2025, February 25). What happens to youth aging out of foster care? https://www.aecf.org/blog/what-happens-to-youth-aging-out-of-foster-care