By Linda A Smith Samantha Healy Vardaman Melissa A Snow

32Shared Hope Internationalabused as a child, whereas just 11% of youth identified as at-risk had suffered the same abuse. Lawenforcement also find that when conducting victim-centered interviews with trafficked children, the victimsusually disclose previous familial physical or sexual abuse. 100According to Sergeant Byron Fassett, a nationally recognized law enforcement expert on the issue ofdomestic minor sex trafficking with the Dallas Police Department, a history of abuse seems to be oneof the major contributing factors or the “genesis of the problem, why this child versus another child”becomes a victim of domestic minor sex trafficking. 101 Similarly, international respondents have found ahigh rate of previous abuse has also been found internationally with programs in Canada estimating that80% of their commercially sexually exploited children experienced previous abuse in their families andenvironments. 102“We’ve heard where it’s been said that incest is boot camp for prostitution. And I truly believe that. Ithink it sets women and girls up for that to be possible.” 103— Kristy Childs, Founder and Executive Director,Veronica’s Voice, and Survivor of domestic minor sex traffickingConnected to the issue of physical and sexual abuse is the problem of familial trafficking — when afamily member trades or rents their child for sexual use by another in exchange for money, food, drugs,etc. Familial trafficking happens at alarming rates in the United States. In fact, the trafficking of childrenby family members was noted frequently in the assessments done by Shared Hope International. Dueto a lack of training and understanding of human trafficking by state child protection service agencies,professionals often classified the abuse under a different label, such as child sexual abuse. This mislabelingof child sexual abuse instead of child sex trafficking results in the commercial component of the crimebeing lost. WestCare Nevada in Las Vegas determined an estimated 30% of domestically traffickedminors who receive services at their shelter were first trafficked by a family member. 104 Staff at WestCareNevada is quick to point out, however, that victims rarely disclose family involvement at the beginning oftreatment, but typically disclose much later in the restoration process. 105Drug Use by ParentsA common element found among sex trafficked minors is the existence of a drug-addicted parent. It is notuncommon in these cases for an in-kind commercial exchange to occur with the parent selling100Snow, Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Assessment Report — Salt Lake City, Utah, pg. 113.101Remarks by B. Fassett. Shared Hope International National Training Conference on the Sex Trafficking of America’s Youth.Transcript on file with authors.102Canada/US Consultation Meeting for the Third World Congress on the Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents. October2 and 3, 2008, Sponsored by Shared Hope International International, ECPAT-USA, and Beyond Borders. Transcript on file withauthors.103Remarks by Kristy Childs, President and Founder, Veronica’s Voice. Shared Hope International National Training Conference onthe Sex Trafficking of America’s Youth (Dallas, Texas: September 15-16, 2008). Transcript on file with authors.104Kennedy and Pucci, Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Assessment Report — Las Vegas, Nevada, pg. 106.105Id.