BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Forensic and Legal Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1625975
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Mental Health Needs of Victim-Survivors of Technology-Assisted Child Sexual AbuseView all 4 articles
Breaking the Silos: Cross-Sector Responses to Child Sex Trafficking and Online Child Sexual Exploitation
Provisionally accepted
Jennifer Martin*
Kiaras Gharabaghi- Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Canada
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Until recently, child sex trafficking and online child sexual exploitation were treated as distinct crimes against children, leading to siloed responses from victim services, legal and policy frameworks, and law enforcement. Technology has blurred this distinction, and a cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary response is needed as a first step to protect and respond effectively to victims. This paper presents the findings from a symposium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in June 2024. Children's mental health and child welfare practitioners, researchers, policymakers, child advocates, law enforcement professionals, and community members with lived experience came together to explore the current state of knowledge, policy, and practice related to technologically-assisted child sex trafficking and exploitation and gaps in responses to child victims. Using thematic analysis, we identified two overarching themes. Sector-Specific Roles & Challenges highlights the roles, challenges, and gaps across five key stakeholder domains. Cross-Sector Imperatives underscores the institutional, survivor-, and child-led leadership required to move beyond silos. We conclude with recommendations across policy, practice, and research to build coordinated, survivor-centered support systems capable of meeting the challenges of emerging technologies.
Keywords: child sex trafficking1, online child sexual exploitation2, technology-facilitated sexual abuse3, child sexual abuse material4, Trauma
Received: 09 May 2025; Accepted: 14 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Martin and Gharabaghi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jennifer Martin, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Canada
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