Familial exploitation involves family members selling their minor children for money, drugs, or something else of value, like access or prestige. Manufacturing of child sex-abuse material also falls into this category. Exploitation of this kind causes severe psychological trauma and negatively impairs the child for a lifetime. Families who exploit their children commercially often have adversities, dysfunctions, and disorders that create a household dynamic of coercion and secrecy, making identification and intervention extremely difficult. While identification is difficult, it is not impossible.
This webinar will provide a closer look at familial exploitation by examining key identifiers and discussing interventions strategies, especially for direct service provides and community members.
PRESENTER
Alicia Cohen is a survivor leader, consultant and advocate in the anti-trafficking movement. She is a survivor of familial childhood sexual exploitation and has expertise in both domestic familial trafficking of children and faith-based trafficking of children. She holds a Bachelors degree in Psychology and is currently completing her Master’s in Special Education, with plans to pursue a second Master’s in Guidance Counseling. She previously trained volunteers for the National Suicide Hotline and currently in Special Education as an early childhood interventionist. She started SAFE (Survivors Against Familial Exploitation) in 2019 as a research group to develop training for direct-care service providers on familial exploitation of children (identification, typology, & treatment). She loves photography and spending her free time hiking the trails of Southern Chester County, PA with her three dogs and 13-yo daughter.
Alicia Cohen,
Founder/ Director, SAFE
OBJECTIVES
- Demonstrate a thorough understanding of familial trafficking, including dysfunctional household dynamics using a family systems approach.
- Identify key behavioral indicators of both the child and the offender.
- Construct intervention and prevention strategies for the community.
TAKEAWAYS
- Case studies
- Community intervention strategies
- Resources for further learning