Jennifer O'Farrell, Anti-Human Trafficking Director at Operation Safe House, will present the process in which youth get lured into being abused by human traffickers, the emotional and psychological impact on the victims and their families, and what can be done to intervene.

Jennifer O’Farrell is the Anti-Human Trafficking director at Operation Safe House, a non-profit agency providing emergency shelter and transitional living for youth in Riverside County. Jennifer serves as the Victim Service Provider of the Riverside County Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force. She spends her time providing intensive case management to victims, and educating, collaborating and creating programs to treat, prevent, and intervene for victims of labor and sex trafficking.  Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from California Baptist University, is a certified Sexual Assault Counselor and Advocate, and has received over 200 training hours from various leaders in the field of human trafficking case management.

 Seminar objectives:

1.      Participants will gain an understanding of the scope and magnitude of human trafficking, both domestically and internationally.

2.      Participants will recognize and articulate the various forms of human trafficking, learn key terminology, identifiers, and the “push and pull” factors.

3.      Participants will understand trafficking from the perspective of the victim and the multiple needs of survivors and recognize the roles that various disciplines have to play in anti-trafficking efforts.

                While there are two forms of human trafficking, labor and commercial sex exploitation, Jennifer focused on the latter. Often when we hear of sex trafficking, we think of “underdeveloped” countries such as Thailand or the Philippines; it can be shocking to learn that this problem is happening in our own backyard. While availability of statistics on commercial sex trafficking is very limited due to the crime’s hidden nature, limited awareness by law enforcement, and lack of research, here are a couple of scary statistics:

These statistics may cause you to ask: Why and how are all these young children being sexually exploited? What are the risk factors for being sexually exploited? Is there anything we can do as therapists to help combat this problem? This summary of Jennifer’s presentation is an attempt to answer some of these questions.

                WHY: The commercial sex industry is one of the most profitable criminal enterprises because there is very low start-up cost (what it takes to recruit a victim), high return on the “product” (the same girl can be sold 15-20 times in just one night), and there is a low risk factor (the girls rather than the exploiters are the ones who face legal consequences if caught).

                RISK FACTORS: There are many risk factors to consider, but some of the high risk factors are: a history of violence or abuse in the victim’s life, sexual abuse, running away, and being in the foster care system, especially group homes. The U.S. Department of Justice’s National Incidence Study reported that 1.7 million children run away or are thrown away each year, with just 357,600 reported as missing to the police. When you do the math, you can see how there is a large pool of “throw away” youth who can easily be recruited into the life of sexual exploitation without anyone noticing they are even missing.

                HOW: Most commonly, children and youth are recruited into the commercial sex industry (“the life”) by exploiters (“pimps”). These pimps know how to prey on emotionally vulnerable children to recruit them into the life through seduction, force, fraud, or coercion. There are different types of pimps and means which are used to recruit. Some are extremely violent and become abusive right away, but more often, they start with seduction, fraud and coercion, very much like a domestic violence relationship, which typically has a romantic courting period, during which an emotional bond is formed. Many pimps will recruit by calling the victims their girlfriends, taking them shopping, taking them to dinner, telling them they love them, and painting a picture of a fantasy life of which these “throw away” children have always dreamed, becoming their Prince Charming. Once the pimp has the girl believing that this is a reality, he will coerce her into having sex for money by using lines such as “If you really love me, you will do this for us;” “It’s only once baby, just to get us the money we need to start our life together.” The pimp will take his time to get the victim to have sex for money the first time because as any pimp or victim will tell you, after the victim has sex once, they are broken and once they have crossed this line, the cycle of being in “the life” has begun for the victim and they will repeat the behavior over and over.

                The life of a sex trafficking victim is very similar to that of a victim of domestic violence or Stockholm syndrome.  Pimps can convince their victims to stay in “the life” no matter how bad it becomes because the victim feels trapped and emotionally torn by the addictive nature of the relationship. Pimps often set up their “ring” to represent a family system that offers structure and relationship. We would call it a highly dysfunctional attempt at a family system; however, for many of these “throw away” youth, it is the most functional or the only family system they have ever known and thus, they stay and continue to be sexually exploited over and over again.

                CONSEQUENCES and RECOVERY:  The average life span of a sex trafficking victim is 7 years before she dies by homicide, suicide, HIV, or AIDS. As you can imagine, the effects of the repeated trauma, abuse, and victimization leave a lasting impact on any survivor who can get out of “the life.” The top mental disorders associated with this population are PTSD, conduct disorder, bi-polar disorder, borderline personality disorder, and depression. Although the recovery time for those in the life is 5-7 years, it is possible to recover. Some effective treatments for this population include a combination of case management, EMDR, CBT, and other trauma-focused therapies. It takes “the village” to help these victims recover by utilizing a variety of people and resources.

                We would like to thank Jennifer O’Farrell for her informative presentation about sexual exploitation of our youth in our own backyards. This summary barely touches the magnitude and complexity of this problem, as it is a unique life and culture. For more education on “the life” there are informative books such as “Girls Like Us” and “Pimpology.” There are also documentaries and short films such as “Very Young Girls,” and “Chosen.” Therapists can also visit the RCAHT website for more information about how to help combat this problem by reporting tips, if we believe we have come across a victim of sexual exploitation in our line of work. Therapists can also contact Operation SafeHouse or RCAHT for more information regarding this issue. Thank you again Jennifer!

            - Janell Gagnon