Breaking a Cycle:

Causes and Effects of Foster Care and Human

Trafficking
By Sam Kneale
Children are sacred, not only are they the future of humanity with each passing
generation getting more technologically and socially advanced, but the new ideas brought by
each passing generation create the proverbial framework for modern society. However, many
children are brought up in homes wrought with personal and economic strife caused by a myriad
of factors. Some children run away from home, stay in their situation and just move on with their
lives, or the government gets involved and puts them in the foster care system. A seemingly
innocuous upgrade, after all they are in a much better and safer place, in theory anyway. Nearly
100,000 children are victims of human trafficking in the United States, and according to the
National Foster Youth Insitute nearly 60% of said victims came from foster care or group homes.
With the average age of girls entering into the sex trade being 12, and the average age of those
recovered from prostitution by law enforcement being 14.

This is complete moral affront and is one of the lowest forms of depravity humans can
participate in. Those who lure these children in, and use them for finicalial, personal, or sexual
gain are by far some of the most heinous criminals in today's society, and Valerie Evers
Bernacki, a local speaker against human trafficking in the metro detroit area would tend to agree
with this assessment. I asked many questions during our web based interview, and found that the
reasons why children are preyed upon are not only disturbing, but terrifyingly specific and
methodically planned out and executed, almost like a numbers game. I first asked some genral
questions about why the system put them at a disavantage, why children were targets, how the
foster care system impacted human trafficking, and why they were pulled from said system.

She said that “Young people in foster care are most often victims of neglect or abuse.
Consequently, they may feel unloved and disconnected from those around them, even if they
happen to be in a caring foster situation at the time.” which makes a lot of sense, being around
people who function as replacement parental guardians is not the same as having a connection
with a biological parent. However, that is not the child's fault, it is purely the fault of those
around them who make them feel that way which results in “traffickers take advantage of these
feelings and tell the youth that he or she is attractive, special, and loved.” Which is just pure
emotional manipulation, taking someone who is desperate to feel belonging and providing them
with the diet coke equivalent, and using them as a result. She referred to this as “Grooming”
which functions as training to “to form a closeness with the trafficker, to develop a sense of
belonging, a sense of family with him.” After that, however , is when the real things start. They
begin to increasingly demand almost a kind of repayment for their future captors kindness saying
things like “I have done all these nice things for you. Can’t you do this favor? Go with my friend
and do what he asks you to do.” and this message is not delivered kindly with threats being
delivered as a part of said requests. When the chips are down, the trafficker will do whatever it
takes to rope in the victim and keep them there, from providing drugs to them and act as their
dealer, giving them fixes as a reward for performing the requested tasks. She said that “A young
person who feels that she has no one else to rely on will do what she thinks she has to do to
survive.”

Past that my next few questions revolved around placing blame for this, and why
someone would do this to children. Her belief is that the kind of people who would subject
children to this would have to had suffered some kind of trauma themselves. Bringing up the
idea of the “Vicious Cycle”, the idea that “one person has a lonely, abusive upbringing and
grows up to deliver those same offenses to others, who grow up to carry on in the same way.”. In
essence the “apple doesn't fall far from the tree” idea. She elaborates on this stating that these
people have almost no self respect and becomes bitter, which results in not treating anyone with
any sort of kindness since they never received it themselves during their important formative
years. Resulting in the “Vicious Cycle” she described, which could potentially make those who
were trafficked into the traffickers later on down the line.

She expresses that the only way to stop it is to rescue the victims of these offenses and
“restore them to wellness.” before they fall into trafficking. Things like after school programs
and tutoring programs and recreational sports. Things that give children who feel neglected, sad,
and alone a way to grow and become better people despite the adverse conditions they were
subjected to as a child. These programs seem to be working and are a very good step in the right
direction. Stopping them while being trafficked is an entirely different animal. It is not only more
difficult to successfully restore these people but in her eyes it is just as important. She elaborated
on many groups in the Metro-Detroit area that offer “care packages, bottled water, conversation
and information about shelters to those working on the streets.” along with police intervention.
She believes that “Police, fire and emergency personnel must learn to recognize, assist and
protect victims, instead of treating them as criminals” which not only highlights the fact that
there seems to be no end in sight for this problem, but that the people who are supposed to
protect us are also failing at their role in helping stop this problem.

Treating someone who was a victim of heinous violent and sexual acts should not be
blamed for their situation, that will only make them be less likely to seek help as a result. Which
only keeps the people running this “trade” out of handcuffs. Treating them with “patience,
understanding, love and a structured path to recovery” like programs offered by Vista Mariam
and Sanctum House are much better, human, and sane options compared to treating victims in a
horrendous fashion. The government needs to do a better job of severely cracking down on these
types of crimes which doesn't seem to be the case any time soon.

I asked her what role the government played in this issue, how the overall structure in
selecting parental guardians in the Foster Care system functioned. She is of the belief that money
is the deciding factor when it comes to how the government handles it. She stated that
“improvements would require money, and that I don’t know where that money would come
from.” which is a fair statement. With the large amount of government programs and how bizarre
the way the federal government distributes money to various programs (or whether or that money
is even distributed to said programs) is not only sad, it's heartbreaking. Government corruption
hampers good people's ability to live in a bad situation, leaving only the individual to fend for
themselves and navigate whatever environment they happen to be in. Being in child in that
scenario is not only more difficult than being an adult, it also makes them more vulnerable. Most
people would believe that foster parents tend to be kind people looking to do good but “Many
others do not have the children’s interests in mind when the check comes in.” which in her eyes
makes them targets for traffickers.

There seems to be a conistent theme which can be boiled down to couple points, the first
being that this “cycle” of abuse seems to perpetuate itself, that the instutions put in place to help
reduce human trafficking are being supplanted by citizens doing a better job, and that money is
the deciding factor. The fact that lack of money or willingness to either cut government spending
or certain areas and shifting it over to places that actually matter, but all the while continuing to
fund a military industrial complex that is gargantua in size is beyond me. The fact that citizens
are doing a better job at helping reduce this crisis then fully trained police task forces is
embarrassing, which only makes the lack of trust for the federal government even higher than it
already is. I would be lying if I said I knew how to fix this issue, but at least people are trying to
help and are making a difference in the lives of children who are our future. I would rather have
a generation of 100,000 intelligent, kind people willing to stand up and making their mark on the
world. Instead we may have 100,000 victims of sheer indescribable brutality. Human trafficking
is the antithesis of what people would want for their children. It's time to do something about it.