Prevention and Intervention Strategies for the Sexual Abuse and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Who Run Away from Foster Care: A Scoping Review

ABSTRACT

Literature on human trafficking suggests the vulnerability to commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) and child sexual abuse (CSA) changes by the prevalence of certain risk factors (e.g., runaway), trafficker-used lures (e.g., isolation), and the environmental conditions present at the time of victimization (e.g., foster care). Often, youth in foster care are at high risk for CSEC and CSA victimization associated with runaway instances. This scoping review aims to identify prevention and intervention strategies for CSEC/CSA of youth who run away from foster care. PRISMA scoping review guidelines were followed to review the literature across two search parameters (CSEC; CSA). An electronic review was conducted between August 2022 and January 2023 across four databases: PubMed, SAGE Journals Online, ScienceDirect, and Web of Science. The CSEC and CSA search parameters comprised three domains (sexual exploitation, foster care, and runaway; sexual abuse, foster care, and runaway, respectively). Literature published between 2012 and 2022 was included regardless of the methodological approach. Literature not concerning youth who run from foster care was excluded. Database searches yielded 206 publications for CSEC and 351 for CSA, reduced to 185 and 212, respectively, after removing duplicates. Seventy-one articles were identified, of which, 64 articles (28 CSEC, 36 CSA) were categorized as prevention strategies and seven (five CSEC, two CSA) as interventions. The intersection and dual victimization of CSEC and CSA of youth who run away from foster care are discussed. This paper also discusses applied behavior analysis principles for developing function-based interventions.

KEYWORDS:

• commercial sexual exploitation of children
• child sexual abuse
• runaway
• foster care
• applied behavior analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Arturo Garcia

Arturo Garcia, MA, is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), a doctoral candidate in the Applied Behavior Analysis program at the University of South Florida (USF), and a graduate research assistant at the USF Trafficking in Persons (TiP) Risk to Resilience Research Lab and Data Depository.

Kimberly Crosland

Kimberly Crosland, PhD, is a Professor and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst – Doctoral (BCBA-D) in the Applied Behavior Analysis program at the University of South Florida (USF). Dr. Crosland’s professional interests are in the areas of behavioral assessment, teacher and caregiver training, child welfare interventions, school-based intervention, and developmental disabilities.

Claudia Reyes

Claudia Reyes, MS, is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), and a PhD student in the Applied Behavior Analysis program at the University of South Florida (USF).

Marissa Del Vecchio

Marissa Del Vecchio, MS, is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), a doctoral candidate in the Applied Behavior Analysis program at the University of South Florida (USF), and a graduate research assistant at the USF Trafficking in Persons (TiP) Risk to Resilience Research Lab and Data Depository.

Cecilia Pannone

Cecilia Pannone, BS, is a Register Behavior Technician (RBT), graduate student in the Applied Behavior Analysis program at the University of South Florida (USF), and a graduate research assistant at the USF Trafficking in Persons (TiP) Risk to Resilience Research Lab and Data Depository.