The typical child that is susceptible and vulnerable to trafficking, oftentimes, they have experienced early childhood sexual abuse by someone close to them.

They're searching for acceptance.

In this series, we learn sex trafficking of minors in America is more common than most of us know.

But why do kids get involved?

One survivor, Grace, shared her story.

Grace says she was pretty much on her own from a very young age.

So when her trafficker came along and started to pay attention t her, she fell in love with him.

Things started to go wrong.

Then things got even worse.

Stephanie Powell once headed a vice unit focused on trafficking.

Young lady believed that this man is in love with them and that forms a trauma bond.

A young girl was lured into Los Angeles from Idaho.

Senior in high school, got good grades.

Her social media pag was about wanting to be a model.

And so someone from Los Angeles said, hey, you're beautiful.

I would love to bring you to L.A. to do a photo shoot.

And it took them almost two months to find her in Los Angeles, and she was being trafficked out of a warehouse.

With social media, It's a it's a broader outreach.

So if a child has a phone or they're working on a gaming system, now, you've brought that outreach into your home.

And so a trafficker may reach out and say, “Nice pic”.

And once she says thank you, that opens up the door for a conversation.

Now next week, we'll learn more about social media's impact and how to protect our children.

Please join us.

For PBS SoCal, I'm Bonnie Boswell.