By: Linda A. Smith Samantha Healy Vardaman Melissa A. Snow

The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: America’s Prostituted Children 33
sex with their child for drugs. 106 Having a drug-addicted parent creates several areas of danger — the
parents themselves, congregation of other drug-addicted persons with access to the child, faulty parental
supervision, and the introduction of drug use to the child. An example of this can be seen in a domestic
minor sex traffi cking case that took place in Monroe, Louisiana, in 2006. The mother of a 14-year-old girl
sold her child to her crack dealer in order to pay for drugs. Though the mother was arrested and charged
with cruelty to a juvenile, the child remained in the custody of the drug dealer (a registered sex offender)
who supplied the minor with drugs and continued to sexually abuse her. The drug dealer then prostituted
the minor in partnership with another man. 107
Another example of familial domestic minor sex traffi cking emerged in Salt Lake City, where an 11-yearold
was removed from her biological parents’ care due to drug use by the parents. Two years after the
removal, the child disclosed in therapy that her parents forced her to watch pornography with her brother
and then engage in sex acts for the entertainment of their parents and their parents’ friends. The parents
often charged the spectators a fee payable in money or drugs, especially crystal methamphetamine. 108
Runaways — Easy Prey
Children who have experienced chronic physical and sexual abuse in the home environment often begin
to run away from their home between the ages of 12 and 14 years old. A survey of 103 child victims
of sex traffi cking completed by the Clark County, Nevada, Public Defenders Offi ce-Juvenile Division
calculated the average age a prostituted youth fi rst ran away from home was 13 years old (see next page). 109
The victims view running away as a way to escape an environment that they cannot control. It is not a
coincidence that the average age of a runaway falls squarely within the age range a child is recruited into
prostitution as the victimized child who fl ees from home often lands straight in the welcoming arms of a
traffi cker posing as protector and caretaker.
106 Stevens, Eve, Smith and Bing, Domestic Minor Sex Traffi cking Assessment Report — Fort Worth, Texas, pg. 35.
107 Bayhi-Gennaro, Domestic Minor Sex Traffi cking Assessment Report — Baton Rouge/New Orleans, Louisiana, pg. 14, citing
Fitch, E. “Grand Jury Indicts Murder Suspect.” The News-Star. June 14, 2006.
108 Hay, Domestic Minor Sex Traffi cking Assessment Report — Dallas, Texas, pg. 11.
109 Clark County Public Defender — Juvenile Division. Unpublished Survey of Girls Arrested for Prostitution Related Offenses (July
2007 — November 2008). Clark County, Nevada. Data on fi le with authors.