Domestic minor sex trafficking in the United States

Abstract

The study is significant because it highlights areas that do not seem to be on the daily agenda of social workers in the USA. In light of this article, it is clear that there is a gap in responding to reproductive health and HIV/AIDS. Young girls are being trafficked to bigger cities for jobs and then forced into the sex trade. Focused intervention is required, including research on ''what will work better for these girls". The strengths are that the study provides opportunities to other people in different sites of the USA to carry out research and, thereafter, informed interventions for those populations that are vulnerable to HIV infection, unplanned pregnancy and other forms of girl child abuses. The weakness of the study is that there was no mention of attempts to use the findings to inform policy. The neglect of young girls below 18 years of age, by social workers, has also been experienced by the Kenya Voluntary Women's Rehabilitation Centre, which deals with domestic minor sex trafficking from rural Kenya to Nairobi City. The majority are between 14 and 15 years old. The girls are lured into the City with promises of jobs, which are non-existent. Therefore, the girls are forced to exchange sex for money and have frequent partner change with low condom use. They are highly exposed to sexually transmitted infections (STls), HIV and unplanned pregnancies, thus, becoming parents as children themselves. These circumstances notwithstanding, HIV education has demonstrated a high level of condom uptake -- 75%, up from 30% before March 2010 (M Kristen and E NgUgi, unpublished data).