Developing Alliances in Social Work Practice
Working With Survivors of Human Trafficking: The Case of Veronica
Veronica is a 13-year-old, heterosexual, Hispanic f emale. She attends high school and is in the ninth grade. She currently lives in an apartment
with her biological mother and her sister, age 9. S he came to this country 7 months ago from Guatemala . Veronica is a sex trafficking survivor
and was referred to me for individual therapy by a human trafficking agency in the United States.
Veronica’s biological mother and father separated w hen Veronica was 3 years old. She lived with her ma ternal aunt and biological mother
until she was 6 years old, and her mother left Guat emala to come to the United States. At that time, V eronica stayed in the care of her maternal
aunt and kept in touch with her biological mother v ia phone and through the visits that her mother mad e to Guatemala. Veronica would visit with
her father, who lived nearby, on occasion, although she stated they did not have much of a connection. When Veronica was 12 years old, her
maternal aunt forced her into prostitution, using t he money from the sex acts as her main source of in come. Veronica reported that her maternal
aunt began treating her “like a slave” and would ma ke her smoke an unknown substance before obligating her to perform sexual acts on
countless men for money. This took place for close to a year before Veronica was able to sneak a phone call to her mother and explain what had
been happening to her. Her mother quickly arranged for Veronica to be picked up by a “coyote” (a person who smuggles people into the United
States). The coyote successfully smuggled Veronica into the United States within 2 months of that phone call. However, while crossing the
border from Mexico to the United States, Veronica o nce again became the victim of sex trafficking crimes. The coyote was also a pimp who
arranged for men crossing the border in the same tr uck as Veronica to engage in sexual acts with her for which the coyote collected money. U.S.
immigration officers caught most of the people trav eling in the truck, including Veronica, and placed
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