How do you define a ‘trafficked child’? A discursive analysis of practitioners’ perceptions around child trafficking
Youth and Policy, 104 (June):
80--96 (2010)Abstract
This article examines how practitioners in the UK define ‘child trafficking’. It is based on research by Pearce, Hynes and Bovarnick (2009), which suggests that there are currently different definitions of child trafficking being worked with in UK practice. By analysing current working definitions around ‘child trafficking’ the article illustrates that much of how trafficked children and young people are identified and how their needs are responded to depends on how practitioners define a trafficked child. As such, the article contributes to an existing body of knowledge around trafficking by illustrating that the ways in which ‘trafficking’ is constituted discursively in policy and practice affect outcomes for trafficked children.