Child Trafficking and Child Welfare

Author: West, Amanda

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to gain an increased understanding of the role of child welfare in relation to the child-trafficking population. Fifteen service providers, from multidisciplinary backgrounds, working in the community with victims of child trafficking were interviewed through individual, semi-structured interviews. Exploratory in nature, this study employed a phenomenological methodology. The coding and analysis of data was conducted through Atlas.ti. The findings in this study suggest that there are barriers between service providers and the child welfare system that are experienced in a lack of identification of victims and in the areas of collaboration and funding of services. Recommendations for practice, policy, and research include transparency, education between system and community, shared input in case decision making, and future exploration of the experiences of caseworkers.

Keywords: child trafficking, child welfare, human trafficking, phenomenology, qualitative methodology