Let’s Talk About Third-Party Trafficking — And What We’re Still Missing

When most people hear the term human trafficking, they picture the scenarios that dominate public awareness campaigns: a young person lured by a trafficker posing as a boyfriend… a child kidnapped by a stranger… a victim trapped by a third-party exploiter who uses force, fraud, or coercion.

These situations absolutely exist — and they deserve urgent intervention.

But they are not the whole story.

And if our response stops there, we miss what may be the most important piece.

The Truth Most People Don’t Know

Research shows that 40% of all trafficking survivors report that their first trafficker was a family member or caregiver.

Forty percent.

This means that even when someone is currently being exploited by a third party — a trafficker outside the home — there is a strong possibility that the victim’s earliest experiences of trafficking came from inside their own family.

In other words:

Many survivors who are identified and supported in third-party trafficking situations may actually be long-term victims of familial trafficking… even if they don’t yet recognize it as such.

Why Victims Get “Stuck”

When a child grows up hearing messages like:

• “You were made for this.”

• “This is because of you.”

• “This is what happens in families.”

…those beliefs become the foundation of their world.

Before they can even speak, children learn who is safe, what love looks like, what their value is, and what they should expect from people who claim to care for them.

So when that same child grows up and is later exploited by a third-party trafficker, the internal narrative often sounds like:

“This must be my fault.”

“This is all I’m good for.”

“This is the only life I know.”

This is why survivors can feel stuck, even when resources, shelters, and support systems are available.

The trauma didn’t start with the third-party trafficker — it started at home.

Where Our Anti-Trafficking Efforts Fall Short

Across the country, many organizations do vital work helping victims escape current trafficking situations. This work saves lives — and it must continue.

But too often, the focus stops at the present-day trafficker.

The goal becomes:

Get the victim away from the current abuser. Move them into services. Stabilize them.

The problem?

If we don’t recognize and address the trauma that was baked into a child before they could even talk, we are treating the surface without healing the root.

A survivor whose identity, safety, and self-worth were shaped by familial trafficking will remain vulnerable — even after the third-party trafficker is gone — unless the earliest layers of trauma are understood and addressed with intention.

Seeing the Whole Story

Many survivors don’t identify what happened to them as children as “trafficking.”

Why?

Because our public awareness campaigns don’t show it.

Because no one told them trafficking could look like:

• family dinners

• church on Sundays

• a “normal” neighborhood

• a smiling photo

• a parent who everyone else trusts

So survivors often have no language for what happened.

No framework.

No mirror to look into.

And if we don’t ask — if we don’t create safety for those earlier stories to surface — those experiences remain buried, unaddressed, and unhealed.

At Mezzo Allies, We Address the Whole

Our work begins with a core truth:

To effectively support survivors of third-party trafficking, we must always consider the possibility of familial trafficking — even when it’s not immediately visible.

We educate communities, professionals, and systems about:

• what familial trafficking looks like

• why it hides so easily

• how trauma shapes behavior, choices, and vulnerability

• how to ask the right questions

• how to hold space for disclosures that don’t fit the “typical” narrative

We teach that healing requires more than removing someone from a current trafficker.

It requires understanding the story beneath the story — the one that started in childhood, shaped the brain and body, and defined what “normal” felt like.

Let’s Change the Conversation — Together

Third-party trafficking is real. It is destructive. It demands action.

But if we want survivors to truly break free — not just physically, but emotionally, psychologically, and generationally — we must widen the lens.

We must be willing to ask:

“What happened before this?”

“What shaped this person’s understanding of love, safety, and self-worth?”

“What if the first trafficker wasn’t the one we see today?”

Because when we honor the whole story, we create the conditions for whole healing.

And that’s what Mezzo Allies is here to do.