CONSTELLATION OF WARNING SIGNS

Can you think of someone who is vulnerable to being taken advantage of by a family member?

Familial trafficking is one of the most severe forms of child victimization known to our country. These crimes have a pervasive impact on the child, altering their development and life trajectory. There is a need for multiple red flags in order to fully understand that a person and their situation are indicative of familial trafficking.

Cognitive & Communication

  • Memory deficits, attention deficits, learning disabilities, developmental delays, autism spectrum disorder

  • Difficulty recounting personal narrative

  • Difficulty identifying preferences

  • Difficulty making decisions

  • Difficulty communicating needs and asking for help

  • Intermittent difficulty recalling daily-life experiences

Emotional

  • Angry outbursts

  • Self-harm (cutting, burning, head banging, nail biting, hair pulling, pica, skin picking)

  • Difficulty coping with change & rigid thinking

  • Sleep disturbances (over sleeping, difficulty falling/staying asleep, nightmares)

  • Anxiety & phobias

  • Generalized sense of unsafety & impending doom

  • Fear of specific time of day; day of the week or month; time of year or holiday

  • Suicidality

  • Eating disorder

  • Seemingly underreaction or flat affect when under stress

  • Seemingly overreaction to non-stressful events

  • Inability to name complex emotions

  • Hypervigilance/preoccupation with safety or seemingly unaware of danger

  • Depend on others for validation and to reflect self-confidence

  • Perfectionism

  • Obsessive Thinking / Ruminating

Social

  • Isolation

  • Loss of pets (pass away, given away)

  • Frequent travel, including being transported from home late at night

  • Virtual learning or homeschooling

  • School & district hopping

  • Irregular school attendance & frequent tardiness

  • Lack of community involvement (extra curricular activities)

  • Difficulty forming and keeping friends

  • Aversion to being photographed

  • Aversion to using bathroom or being in a room with a closed door

  • Bullied or bullier

  • Aversion (or lack of enthusiasm) to parent, family member, or guardian

  • Age-inappropriate sexual knowledge, behavior, or language

  • Casual discussion or play surrounding severe violence

  • Rule-oriented

Physical

  • Overly sensitive gag reflex

  • Heightened startle response

  • Lack of emergency care & delayed presentation to medical staff; overall health care avoidance, particularly mental health

  • Hygiene neglect (typical with parent drug abuse)

  • Habitual intake of cold & allergy medication (over use & inappropriate use);  off-label use of psychoactive medications

  • Rocking, stomach complaints particularly when toileting

  • Somatization & vague physical complaints including fatigue, stomach, and throat pain

  • Frequent throat infections, mouth ulcers, and STIs

  • Pregnancy & abortion

  • Chronic constipation & UTIs

  • Blood in underwear and/or painful urination without the presence of a UTI

  • Signs of physical trauma or injury

Parental Context

  • Religious enmeshment

  • Authoritarian parenting, discipline without explanation

  • Morality champion, rule-oriented

  • Status and obedience oriented

  • Strict disciplinarian, corporal punishment

  • Substance dependence and/or substance trafficking

  • Frequent travel & overnight stays

  • Frequent guests in home

  • Access to technology (photo, video, printing, file-sharing capabilities) & Knowledge of Internet security, P2P forums

  • Financially controlling

  • Disinterest & disengagement in child’s education & overall welfare

  • “Weird” (breaks social norms, lack of boundaries)

  • Controlling / hovering / helicopter parent

  • Domestic abuse in home (mental, emotional, verbal)

  • Pathological liar

  • Drug abuse and drug trafficking in home

  • Manipulative

  • Lack of empathy

  • Personal history with childhood sexual, physical abuse, and exposure to domestic violence

  • Strict disciplinarian & corporal punishment

  • Supervises child’s medical & psychological evaluations, assessments, and examines

  • Parents describe child as overly emotional, dramatic, mentally ill

  • Aliases & nicknames

  • Accepts frequent gifts or donations of value

  • “Small business” owner (can be anything from a flea market table to ministry to mechanic)

  • History of criminal behavior, misuse of resources & poor business practices

  • History of involvement with the sex trade

  • Involvement with a fundamental religious group or other extremist group

What can I do?

Never try to intervene directly. Rather establish a safe and long-term relationship with the individual. Call the human trafficking hotline, report to your local child protective agency, and file a report with your local law enforcement agency.

ASK: How do you sleep at night? Do you have nightmares? Do you take medication that makes you sleep? Do you like being alone with Dad? How about mom?

DO: Always screen for dissociation in conjunction with ADHD & LD