Reproductive health education and confidential teen clinics: An opportunity to screen for victims of domestic minor sex trafficking

Domestic minor sex trafficking is estimated to affect approximately 300,000 children in the United States at any given time. Given the underground nature of sexual exploitation and the difficulties in identifying minor victims, however, the actual magnitude of the problem may be much greater. Identification of both high risk and victimized youth is essential to provide preventive youth development services and treatment. Asian Health Services, a federally qualified community health center in Oakland, California, and Banteay Srei, a unique community outreach and youth development program for Southeast Asian adolescents at high risk for sexual exploitation, developed and implemented a screening and referral protocol to detect and provide services and resources to victims of domestic minor sex trafficking. The reproductive health education/counseling and confidential teen clinic settings are prime arenas to implement a screening and referral protocol because youth trust these health care settings and often choose to interface with these services on their own terms, seeking advice, medical care, testing, or contraceptive options. Commercially sexually exploited youth are at risk of a multitude of health problems, and barriers to accessing medical and mental health care are many. The screening and referral protocol is a groundbreaking tool to combat the epidemic of commercial sexual exploitation in youth for primary, secondary and tertiary prevention and treatment in this high risk population.