This Article examines how child welfare responds to children who are forced to labor through a case study of California. We use an intersectional framework to argue that a conceptualization of current sociolegal responses to human trafficking cannot be delinked from racialized and sexualized forms of governmentality. In using an intersectional framework, we hope to draw upon intersectionality as a way to “point to the ways that structural inequality, persistent disadvantages, and structural abandonment are some of the root causes of microlevel violent interactions and at the same time influence how effective macrolevel justice policies are at responding to or preventing violent victimization.” By examining the differential role of child welfare responses as a localized response to a global form of exploitation, human trafficking, it is shown that race, gender, and national origin continue to impact those who are perceived as “victims” of human trafficking in the United States. This perception of victimhood is predicated on protecting whiteness and is rooted in institutional efforts to normalize the victimization of people of color, immigrants, and the financially vulnerable. As this study occurred prior to and concurrent with the COVID-19 pandemic (2019-2021), the context of how minoritized communities experienced marginalization during a global crisis is also important to acknowledge.
Fukushima et al. (Mon,) studied this question.