Strengthening Protections for Child Trafficking Victims

California law has long recognized that trafficked children belong in the child welfare system, not the criminal justice system. But current statutes focus almost exclusively on sex trafficking, leaving a wide category of exploited children without equal protection. AB2451 corrects that gap. The Legislature itself has found that child welfare practice has focused exclusively on sex trafficking, and that labor trafficking victims, including children forced to commit crimes, are frequently unidentified and face arrest and deportation instead of care. The American Council believes every child who has been trafficked deserves to be seen, named, and served. This bill does exactly that.

The bill amends the dependency jurisdiction trigger in Welfare and Institutions Code Section 300(b)(4) to cover all victims of human trafficking as described in Penal Code Section 236.1, striking the narrower term 'sexually trafficked' and replacing it with 'victim of human trafficking.' It renames the protected class from 'commercially sexually exploited children' to 'victims of human trafficking.' These are not merely cosmetic changes. A child forced into labor under threat or coercion is a trafficking victim. Calling that child something else, or nothing at all, denies them the legal standing they are owed.

The bill also adds important protections for family integrity. Under new Welfare and Institutions Code Section 306(g), a social worker may not take temporary custody of a trafficking victim child when the parent or guardian has not participated, directly or indirectly, in the child's trafficking, unless two conjunctive conditions are both met: continuance in the home must be contrary to the child's welfare, and specific statutory circumstances described in Section 319(c) must also be present. Any such determination must be made case-by-case, weighing all relevant factors. The American Council reads this as a meaningful safeguard against the trauma of unnecessary family separation, and a recognition that the child welfare system should protect family bonds when they have not been broken by the parent.

AB2451 further renames the Commercially Sexually Exploited Children Program to the Human Trafficked Children Program and revises all parts of that program to serve victims of any form of human trafficking, including labor trafficking. Case plan requirements that previously applied only to children at risk of commercial sexual exploitation will now apply to all children at risk of human trafficking. The Department of Social Services will be required to ensure the Child Welfare Services case management system can collect data on human trafficking victims by June 1, 2027, and to report to the Legislature on program implementation, including data specific to labor trafficking victims, by April 1, 2028. The Legislature has stated its intent that these provisions promote individualized assessment and prioritize protection, family unity, and access to appropriate services over punishment. The American Council holds that same conviction. We urge the Legislature to pass AB2451 and make it law.