HEALING PATHWAYS
Philadelphia Children's Alliance's Program Supporting
Child Victims of Human Trafficking (CVHT)
Healing Pathways provides Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) Assessments,
mental health counseling and Wrap court advocacy and accompaniment to trafficked youth
and high-risk youth.
PCA works in collaboration with The Philadelphia and The Juvenile
Anti-Trafficking Coalitions as well as Salvation Army’s New Day to Stop Trafficking Program and The National Council of Juvenile and family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) to serve children and their families.
What is Child Sex Trafficking?
Sex trafficking refers to any sex act with a child in exchange for something of value and is illegal in all 50 states.
While proof of force, fraud, or coercion is required for adult sex trafficking victims, these elements are NOT required when the victim is a minor.
How Big of a Problem is Sex Trafficking?
In total, there were 36.2 million youth reports to The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC’s) CyberTipline during 2023.
Fighting CVHT means going against a 250-billion-dollar industry, and success requires local, national and international collaboration.
Who Are the Most Likely Victims?
Boys and men are just as likely to be victims of human trafficking as girls and women.
Girls and boys are often subject to different types of trafficking – for instance, girls may be trafficked for forced marriage and sexual exploitation; boys may be trafficked for forced labor or recruitment into armed groups.
What is Being Done in Pennsylvania?
Pennsylvania uses a CVHT screening and assessment tool which effectively identifies human trafficking cases with a trauma informed approach.
The screening tool is designed to identify children who have been possible victims and be used to screen up to 4 children living with the same parent (s) or guardian (s).
