Child Abuse Identification and Reporting: The Pennsylvania Requirement _____________________________
There are several different types of child or minor human traf- ficking, but the term is generally defined as the recruitment, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a child for labor or services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion. Severe forms of human trafficking include sex and labor trafficking, including debt bondage and slavery. Labor Trafficking Labor trafficking is defined as labor obtained by the use of threat of serious harm, physical restraint, or abuse of the legal process. Severe labor trafficking includes the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coer- cion, for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage (i.e., paying off debt through work), debt bondage (i.e., debt slavery, bonded labor or services for a debt or other obligation), or slavery (i.e., a condition compared to that of a slave in respect of exhausting labor or restricted freedom). Typically, children involved in forced labor are being given little or no pay. In the United States, forced labor is predominantly found in five sectors [57]: • Prostitution and sex industry (46%) • Domestic servitude (27%) • Agriculture (10%)
• Youth in the foster care system • Youth who identify as LGBTQIA+ • Youth who are homeless or runaway • Youth with disabilities • Youth with mental health or substance abuse disorders • Youth with a history of sexual abuse • Youth with a history of being involved in the welfare system • Youth who identify as native or aboriginal • Youth with family dysfunction
EPIDEMIOLOGY OF CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT
NATIONAL PREVALENCE In 2020, there were 3.9 million referrals to child protective agencies in the United States [15]. More than 2.1 million (or 54%) were assessed to be appropriate for a response, and 27.6% of reports were made by health, social service, and/or mental health professionals [15]. Girls tend to be victims at a slightly higher rate (8.9 per 1,000 population) compared with boys (7.9 per 1,000 population) [15]. The most common perpetrators were parents; 90.6% of victims are maltreated by one or both parents [15]. Specifically, mothers are more often perpetra- tors compared with fathers (58.3% of victims were abused by a mother vs. 44.3% of victims were abused by a father) [15]. As of 2020, 8.4 of every 1,000 children in the United States were victims of abuse and/or neglect [15]. This is the unique rate, meaning each child is counted only once regardless the number of times a report may have been filed for abuse/ neglect. The fatality rate for 2020 was 2.38 deaths per 100,000 children [15]. Research has shown that racial and ethnic minority children (particularly African American, Native American/Alaska Native, and multi-racial children) tend to have higher rates of reported child maltreatment compared with their White counterparts ( Table 1 ) [15]. However, the lowest reported rate is among Asian American children [15]. PENNSYLVANIA STATE PREVALENCE According to the Annual Child Protective Services Report, a yearly statistical report that documents child abuse cases in Pennsylvania, the child abuse hotline registered a total of 39,093 reports of suspected abuse or neglect in 2022 [27]. Approximately 12.8% of these cases were substantiated, which translates to 4,992 cases of child abuse in 2022 [27]. This is an increase of 6,174 reports (18.7%) compared with 2020, a
• Sweatshops and factories (5%) • Restaurant and hotel work (4%)
Among child victims, forced domestic servitude is a serious concern, particularly related to the provision of domestic services for 10 to 16 hours per day on activities such as child care, cooking, cleaning, and yard work/gardening. Sex Trafficking The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act defines sex trafficking as, “the recruitment, harboring, transporta- tion, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act” [58]. A commercial sex act is, “any sex act on account of which anything of value is given to or received by any person” [58]. In other words, it involves the illegal transport of humans to be exploited in a sexual manner for financial gains [59]. Victims of sex trafficking could be forced into prostitution, stripping, pornography, escort services, and other sexual services [60]. Under federal law, sex trafficking (such as prostitution, pornography, or exotic dancing) does not require there be force, fraud, or coercion if the victim is younger than 18 years of age. The term “domestic minor sex trafficking” has become a popular term used to connote the buying, selling, and/or trading of children for sexual services within the country, not internationally [60]. In the United States, the children most vulnerable to domestic minor trafficking are [60]:
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