Familial exploitation involves family members selling their minor children for money, drugs, or something else of value.  Manufacturing and exchanging child pornography also falls under this category. Exploitation in this manner results in severe psychological trauma and negatively impairs the child for a lifetime.

Identification

Families who exploit their children commercially create a household culture of coercion and secrecy, making identification and intervention incredibly difficult.  These children attend school, church, and other community functions, but go unnoticed as needing assistance. While identification is difficult, it is not impossible.

Intervention

It can all begin with a hunch that something seems off. Trust your instincts, but do not try to intervene yourself as you could make the situation worse for the child. Please contact your local child abuse hotline, non-emergency police department, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and the National Human Trafficking Hotline.

Restoration

Recovery from exploitation at the hands of a family member is a life-long process.  Victims being identified and removed from their trafficker is just the start of the recovery process.  Thus, identification should be considered the initial goal rather than the end goal.