According to Dr. Richard Estes, “Child sexual exploitation is the most hidden form of child abuse in the U.S. and North America today. It is the nation’s least recognized epidemic.” This form of human trafficking – the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) – is a pressing concern for youth service agencies. The adolescents we work with are extremely vulnerable to recruitment into “the life” of exploitation. Some are lured by smooth-talking traffickers (pimps), some are abused by their own family members, and some engage in commercial sex as a way to survive when they are homeless or in need of other resources.
At Prevent Child Abuse – New Jersey, we partner with over 70 agencies and programs throughout our state that work with youth who are vulnerable to sexual exploitation as well as those who have experienced it. Studies conducted around the country have found that young survivors are mostly girls and that the average age they were first commercially sexually exploited was age 14. Sadly, when repeated sexual trauma happens to young girls – as it does in the case of CSEC survivors, sometimes for many years – they carry that trauma throughout their lives. It impacts their physical and mental health, their relationships, and their vulnerability to further victimization. We can share many amazing success stories of survivors who are thriving, but despite their courage and tenacity, we cannot forget that they should not have had to experience what they did. This should not happen to our young girls.
This is why we feel that prevention is so important. Young adolescent girls need information and support to help them stay safe and prevent their victimization. That is why we partnered with My Life My Choice, a survivor-led pioneer in the fight to end the commercial sexual exploitation of children. The My Life My Choice Exploitation Prevention Curriculum is designed to educate and empower young girls to reduce their vulnerability, increase their supports, and help them to make safe choices. The program reaches disproportionately vulnerable girls and provides them a safety net of proven solutions, grounded in evidence, to protect them from predators and exploitation. This evidence-informed and tested curriculum works. An independent research study found:
- Knowledge about CSEC and risks for exploitation improved for all participants, particularly for those who were 11-15 years old and those in a residential facility.
- Experiences of commercial sexual exploitation decreased by 55% immediately after the Exploitation Prevention Curriculum group, and by 40% at the six-month follow-up.
- Participants were 2 times less likely to report dating abuse victimization in the past three months at the six-month follow-up.
- 100% of youth provided CSEC-related help to a friend or other people in the past three months after participating in the prevention group.
The results speak for themselves. This program changes lives and prevents trauma. One participant said: “Being in the group, I found it to be very helpful, because it gave me an outlook on the things that’s going on in my neighborhood and around the world. And it also taught me to be aware of my surroundings and small clues on how to avoid situations like this.”
Since 2013, we have trained over 200 people in New Jersey and across the nation to become My Life My Choice Exploitation Prevention Curriculum Facilitators and have witnessed the impact this program has had on the youth that they serve. If you are interested in getting trained to implement the My Life My Choice Exploitation Prevention Curriculum, check out our upcoming training in New Jersey on November 5-6th: https://www.mylifemychoice.org/training-advocacy
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