Trafficked Children and Youth in the United States : Reimagining Survivors / Elzbieta M. Gozdziak.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gozdziak, Elzbieta M., author.

Series:

Rutgers series in childhood studies.

Rutgers Series in Childhood Studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Child prostitutes--Rehabilitation--United States.

Child prostitutes.

Child prostitution--United States.

Child prostitution.

Child trafficking--United States.

Child trafficking.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (193 pages).

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, NJ : Rutgers University Press, [2016]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Trafficked children are portrayed by the media-and even by child welfare specialists-as hapless victims who are forced to migrate from a poor country to the United States, where they serve as sex slaves. But as Elzbieta M. Gozdziak reveals in Trafficked Children in the United States, the picture is far more complex. Basing her observations on research with 140 children, most of them girls, from countries all over the globe, Gozdziak debunks many myths and uncovers the realities of the captivity, rescue, and rehabilitation of trafficked children. She shows, for instance, that none of the girls and boys portrayed in this book were kidnapped or physically forced to accompany their traffickers. In many instances, parents, or smugglers paid by family members, brought the girls to the U.S. Without exception, the girls and boys in this study believed they were coming to the States to find employment and in some cases educational opportunities. Following them from the time they were trafficked to their years as young adults, Gozdziak gives the children a voice so they can offer their own perspective on rebuilding their lives-getting jobs, learning English, developing friendships, and finding love. Gozdziak looks too at how the children's perspectives compare to the ideas of child welfare programs, noting that the children focus on survival techniques while the institutions focus, not helpfully, on vulnerability and pathology. Gozdziak concludes that the services provided by institutions are in effect a one-size-fits-all, trauma-based model, one that ignores the diversity of experience among trafficked children. Breaking new ground, Trafficked Children in the United States offers a fresh take on what matters most to these young people as they rebuild their lives in America.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Prologue: Afong Means Strength

Introduction: Researching and Writing about Child Trafficking

Part I. Moral Panics

Part II. "Captured"

Part III. "Rescued"

Part IV. "Restored"

Epilogue: Everyday Struggles

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 22. Okt 2019)

ISBN:

0-8135-6971-0

OCLC:

950884960