The Problem

Every day, children are bought and sold for sex—in every country and every community. Even yours.

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Exploitation, not choice.

Child sex trafficking, also known as Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST), is the exchange of a sex act for anything of value, including money, food, shelter, clothing, transportation, gift cards, or other basic needs.

No young person can consent to being sold for sex. They are trafficking victims. Each and every one of them deserves protection and justice no matter where they are or where they came from. It is our responsibility to see them and serve them.

Waiting For You To Notice

We have a problem. Sex trafficking is a booming industry in America. It thrives because there is a serious demand for commercial sex with minors. Every day in America children are being bought and sold for sex. And they are waiting for you to notice. But would you know it if you saw it…

This Isn’t Just a Crisis. It’s a Child’s Life.

Yvonne’s Story

Yvonne’s abuse began at home. At just five years old, her stepfather exploited her for child pornography, then sold her for sex to his friends. Beaten when she resisted, Yvonne ran away by age seven—only to face drugs, homelessness, and more predators. At thirteen, her stepfather found her again, locked her in a basement, and forced her to serve men until, at fourteen, she gave birth.

Later, after running away from home again, a trafficker started to romance her and lured her with promises of food, clothes, and safety. She thought he loved her. But then things switched. He started selling her to wealthy buyers willing to buy sex with a child. Yvonne’s childhood was stolen and shattered by exploitation—but her story calls us to fight for every child still at risk.

It’s closer than you think.

Sex trafficking isn’t a distant issue—it’s an American crisis. Child sex trafficking has been reported in every U.S. state.

Who are the victims?

Sex trafficking can impact any child, but traffickers most often target children facing increased vulnerabilities. The average age of entry is just 14–16, far too young to recognize grooming or manipulation.

Traffickers look for vulnerabilities they can exploit, including:

  • Housing insecurity or homelessness
  • Poverty and lack of resources
  • Substance abuse or family addiction
  • System involvement (child welfare or juvenile justice)
  • Low self-esteem and feelings of loneliness
  • History of abuse, neglect, or family violence
  • LGBTQ+ identity, which can increase isolation
  • Active on social media or video games with chat features

While certain vulnerabilities increase risk, no child is immune to exploitation—which is why awareness and prevention are essential in every community.

Learn How to Identify and Respond to Trafficking

The tactics traffickers
don’t want you to see

Trafficking does not always involve kidnapping or physical restraint. Oftentimes, traffickers and buyers will build a relationship with a victim in efforts to understand their desires and vulnerabilities and foster emotional attachment. In the grooming process, they use calculated tactics to manipulate and control.

Common Grooming Tactics Include:

  • Building Trust: Traffickers pose as friends, mentors, or romantic partners.
  • Offering Gifts & Attention: Clothes, money, food, or compliments to make the child feel valued.
  • Isolation: Slowly pulling the child away from family and friends.
  • Exploiting Needs: Promising safety, love, or basic necessities like housing.
  • Normalizing Sexual Behavior: Introducing explicit content or conversations to break down boundaries.
  • Creating Dependency: Using drugs, emotional manipulation, or threats to keep control

Once the trafficker has them, these factors make it difficult for victims to escape. Traffickers use physical, emotional and psychological abuse to coerce youth and children into a life of sex trafficking. Traffickers often use the threat of violence against victims or victim’s loved ones to secure their submission. Additionally, because victims have faced negative public stigma and the risk of criminalization for acts related to their victimization, seeking help or leaving the situation can feel impossible, further isolating them and increasing their vulnerability to ongoing abuse and exploitation.

Know the Warning Signs

Three forces have intensified this crisis:

Technology that gives traffickers direct access to children through apps, video games, and social media.

The demand from buyers who fuel the market.

The normalization of the sex industry that makes exploitation easier to hide in plain sight.

To end trafficking, we must stop demand.

When we disrupt demand, we prevent trafficking before it starts.

In 2006, the U.S. Department of State asked Shared Hope International, “What is driving the markets of sex trafficking?” If we want to end child sex trafficking, we need to attack it at its root: DEMAND. Trafficking is built on the economic principle of supply and demand.

“We can’t stop trafficking if we don’t stop the people buying.” — Linda Smith, Founder and President

Shared Hope’s groundbreaking DEMAND studies exposed the patterns of behavior, cultural attitudes, and gaps in enforcement that allow buyers to operate with impunity. This research shifts the focus from blaming victims to holding buyers accountable. Understanding demand is critical to breaking the cycle of exploitation, shaping stronger laws, and driving prevention strategies that protect children before harm occurs.

The cycle doesn’t end at escape.

True freedom requires comprehensive support—legal, economic, medical, and social—so survivors can heal, thrive, and reclaim their lives.

Survivors of trafficking face barriers long after exploitation ends:

  • Criminal records for prostitution and other related offenses that block opportunities to move forward
  • Limited access to services in systems that weren’t designed to support them
  • Stigma and misunderstanding from communities unaware of the realities of trafficking
  • Ongoing legal battles (criminal cases, civil cases, family court/custody disputes, and more)
  • Serious and long-term emotional and physical health impacts, including reproductive harm and chronic conditions linked to trauma

Creating lasting change requires systems that recognize survivors as victims of exploitation—not criminals—and provide meaningful pathways to healing and opportunity. Shared Hope works to strengthen laws, improve responses within and outside of systems, equip professionals with trauma-informed training, and advocate for survivor-centered support that helps individuals rebuild their lives with dignity and hope.

Every child deserves freedom, dignity, and a future.

Shared Hope was founded on the belief that every person deserves the opportunity to be restored to a life of dignity and purpose. This conviction, rooted in our Christian abolitionist values, drives everything we do.

Trafficking isn’t inevitable—it’s preventable. When we disrupt demand, change unjust laws, and equip communities to protect children, we stop exploitation before it starts and restore hope after it ends.

Parents, educators, law enforcement, policymakers, and everyday advocates—we all have a role to play in building a future where every child is free from exploitation.

FAQs

Is child sex trafficking happening in the United States?

YES. Domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST), which is the commercial sexual exploitation of children through buying, selling, or trading their sexual services, is happening in the United States. Forms of DMST include prostitution, pornography, stripping and other sexual acts.

What is sex trafficking?

Sex trafficking is when a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud or coercion OR when the person induced to perform the act is under 18 years old. A commercial sex act means any item of value is traded for any sexual service (prostitution, pornography, or sexual performance). Domestic minor sex trafficking is the commercial sexual exploitation of American children within U.S. borders for monetary or other compensation (shelter, food, drugs, etc.). This is synonymous with child sex slavery, sex slavery, child sex trafficking, prostitution of children, and commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC).

What about the girls who choose prostitution? Are they victims of trafficking too?

Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) sex trafficking requires force, fraud or coercion UNLESS the victim is a minor. Any minor used in a commercial sex act (the exchange of any item of value for a sex act) IS a victim of trafficking, regardless of their willingness or desire to engage in the sex act.

Why don't victims escape when they have the opportunity?

Traffickers and pimps use physical, emotional and psychological abuse to coerce young women and girls into a life of sex trafficking. Traffickers are master manipulators and employ tactics to create trauma bonds with victims. Traffickers often use the threat of violence against victims or victim’s loved ones to secure their submission.

How do traffickers or pimps recruit victims?

Many pimps often use a “lover-boy” technique to recruit girls from middle and high schools. A lover-boy will present himself as a boyfriend and woo the girl with gifts, promises of fulfilled dreams, protection, adventure – whatever she perceives she is lacking. Traffickers use social media sites to recruit teenagers. After securing her love and loyalty, he will force her into prostitution.

What makes a child vulnerable to child sex trafficking?

Age

Age is the primary factor of vulnerability. Pre-teen or adolescent girls are more susceptible to the calculated advances, deception, and manipulation tactics used by traffickers/pimps – no youth is exempt from falling prey to these tactics.

Traffickers target locations youth frequent such as social media sites, schools, malls, parks, bus stops, shelters and group homes. Runaway or homeless youth as well as those with a history of physical and sexual abuse may have an increased risk of being trafficked.

Internet Safety Threats

Pimps are continually trolling the internet posing as a teen girl or boy interested in friendship. The relationship is developed without threat until the unsuspecting child agrees to meet them, to send compromising photos or shares their deepest secrets with them. That’s when the predator can move in and begin to separate them from their safety nets.

What is the difference between a trafficker and a pimp?

Nothing. A pimp is another name for a trafficker. A trafficker/pimp is any person who causes an adult (using force, fraud or coercion) or any minor to engage in commercial sex in order to profit from the exploitation of that individual.

Who buys sex?

The buyers of sex from juveniles can be anyone – professionals, students, tourists, military personnel, a family member. Because buyers often pay in cash and may interact with a victim for as little as five minutes, buyers are increasingly difficult to identify. To view information about buyers in your state, visit www.demandingjustice.org.

How does pornography affect the trafficking industry?

Viewing pornography may be a solo act; however, the production of the material and the social and relational consequences of the behavior extends far past the individual. Children and adults endure brutal rape and abuse at the hands of pornographers and may require years of specialized therapy to heal from the intense trauma inflicted on them. The effects of pornography can skew the viewer’s perception of healthy sexual behavior and boundaries, impacting the viewer’s personal relationship with a spouse or significant other. Trafficked women and children may face an increased risk of violence or degradation due to the normalization of deviant sex acts propagated through pornography.

What if someone I know is being groomed for trafficking or is being trafficked?

Visit sharedhope.org/report/ to learn the signs and find out where to report trafficking.