According to the San Diego District Attorney’s office, in San Diego, sex trafficking alone is an $810 million a year industry and was identified by the FBI as one of the top 13 areas in the country for commercial sexual exploitation of children. San Diego Youth Services has been offering extensive services for more than 14,000 youth each year, including providing trafficking resources for parents, caregivers, educators, providers, and youth.
SDYS CEO Walter Philips said the organization works on intervention of the sex trafficking of children, working along other organizations in the county.
“We got involved working in this arena of exploitation of children around 2010. We run many programs with the youth shelter in San Diego for runaway youth for minors under 18, a foster care program, we have drop-in centers for youth experiencing homelessness. In those programs, what we saw was that several of these youth coming through were victims of commercial sexual exploitation. At that time, we said we had to do something,” he said. “We work closely with some of the local organizations in town including the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force and law enforcement.
“Some of the data is somewhat misleading because it is such a hidden problem with children. I know there is a report out from the Federal Human Trafficking that talks about the number of children impacted here updated in 2023. It showed about 128 victims of sex trafficking of minors in San Diego at that time, which is a pretty substantial number. One of the things we know is a trend, is the age of children getting involved and getting exploited is going down, which is scary. The average age in 2022 was down to 15 as the average age. Some of the other scary numbers is the national range is that the youngest victim was 4 up to 21 years of age. The bottom line is we are seeing it. The other problem is that it is not the typical idea that these are all kids at risk. All kids are at risk from all areas of San Diego, all economic backgrounds, so it is not only one type of youth and is happening all over San Diego are impacted. That is something important for people to understand because many people think, not in my neighborhood,” he said.
Philips said there are several things that make youth more susceptible to sexual exploitation.
“Kids become involved with substance abuse and then become victimized into trafficking. They begin trading sexual practices for substances. We also see kids in the foster care system and juvenile justice system are at higher risk. Kids who are homeless or runaways are on the streets and often are exploited doing survival sex to help themselves make it on the streets. Kids dropping out or failing in school are in higher risk areas as well,” he said.
Philps said another misconception is that these kids are internationally trafficked, and the narrative is that most of these kids are from other countries, but most of these kids are U.S. citizens and are from San Diego.
“A large number of kids become victims from people that they know or who have befriended them. Familial trafficking has been on the rise, which means, aunts, uncles, parents are exploiting their children, with a lot of it due to economic factors, poverty, abuse backgrounds, and homelessness. One of the risk factors is LGBTQ youth. A piece of that is we are seeing an increase in males being exploited both in heterosexual and LGBTQ youth. One thing is hard in that is oftentimes, youth are being exploited and are not necessarily involved with sexual acts that are not part of their sexual orientation, but they are being exploited. We are seeing an increase with LGBT youth, oftentimes because they are higher in numbers in homeless on the streets because they have been kicked out of their homes, feel unwelcomed in their schools or communities. After they come out, oftentimes, people turn their backs on them. We have specific programs in East County and downtown San Diego for LGBTQ+ youth,” he said.
Philips said SDYS has several programs addressing sex trafficking.
“Our goal is across the continuum. So, we start with prevention and education. That is important that we are working on prevention at schools, in the community, with parents, to help them educate parents, school teachers, counselors, what the risk factors are that can lead a young person to being exploited, whether it is sexual or other types of exploitation. We start with early intervention with kids who are at risk of being sexually exploited and begin intervening with the kids and their families, providing support and education,” he said.
In terms of intervention, Philips said SDYS has two specific programs, its I Care Program, with two main components, mental health intervention, and its drop-in center which is open seven days a week for youth to come in if they are at-risk or have been victimized.
“They can come in with supporting adults, getting their basic needs met, meaning food, clothing, shelter. We provide some housing. Then, going into the next level of skill-building, whether educational or vocational skills, and then dealing with their trauma through therapy. We also have our Safe Families Program which is tied with our Domestic Violence Program. There is a strong tie between domestic violence and sexual exploitation. Many times, the sexual exploitation is hidden because the focus is on domestic violence,” he said.
Philips said these programs and the resources that come with them are extremely important because it can educate parents on what to look for.
“For parents, it is really being aware that this is an issue with which they can deal. A few important things for parents to keep a line of communication between their kids. Having a trusting adult is important. Oftentimes, when kids are going through adolescent development stage, they are just looking for social connections. Often, parents misunderstand what youth are going through. Monitoring their social media, in terms of where kids are being recruited, online recruitment is the highest venue where youth are being recruited into being exploited for sex trafficking. Making sure that parents do not assume anything when talking with their kids, and though I know it is hard for parents, try not to judge your kids,” he said.
Philips said the SDYS website has many resources around human trafficking, and resources for parents. He said the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (missingkids.org) is a huge resource for parents.
“Education is key. If they are suspecting something, reach out to the school, the counselors, to us. Intervening early is extremely important,” he said.
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