As Massachusetts welcomes huge crowds for the World Cup this summer, a Marblehead mother of three is helping lead efforts to protect some of the state’s most vulnerable children.
Sonja Solberg Potter, co-executive director of the Boston-based organization My Life My Choice, has spent the past 13 years working to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of children. Amid concerns that large international sporting events can create increased opportunities for traffickers and buyers, My Life My Choice has expanded its capacity to respond if more young victims are identified.
“With any large sporting event, there’s an increased concentration of trafficking,” Solberg Potter told the Current.
She continued, “It is happening every day, and it’s impacting every community, but when there are waves of people coming from all over the world, we know there will be people trafficked to the event from other states and that community’s own vulnerable people are at heightened risk…. The state has been planning for a while, getting youth and adult-serving trafficking organizations on board to be prepared if there’s an influx or the possibility of an increase in victims.”
Commercial sexual exploitation of children, or C-SEC, refers to a range of crimes and activities involving the sexual abuse of a child in exchange for something of value that is given or promised. It can happen in person or online, including on gaming platforms.
“Now that young people are on their phones and devices constantly, exploiters use these to set up meetings or exchange videos,” Solberg Potter explained. “They just know how to find the kids who are more susceptible — children looking for connection and belonging and love and all these things who have likely already experienced abuse or neglect, and so (exploiters) know how to find them and manipulate them.”
The average age at which children served by My Life My Choice experience their first sexual exploitation is 13, Solberg Potter said, aligning with national statistics.
Survivor-led support
Founded in 2022, My Life My Choice served 177 children last year throughout Eastern Massachusetts, from Worcester to the New Hampshire border and Cape Cod; 29 were from Essex County.
It is a survivor-led organization, meaning survivors’ lived experiences and expertise at the core of everything it does. About half of the organization’s 246 employees are survivors who mentor victims.
“Our approach is based on the social justice framework that the people most impacted by an issue should have the loudest voices in its solution,” Solberg Potter said.
Solberg Potter explained how mentors work with exploited teens.
“Sometimes, they’re helping them safely exit and getting resources and connected,” she said. “Sometimes, they’ll meet with them once a week. It’s about building a connection, helping them find safe adults or learning a safe relationship. A lot of times it’s also like, they need a place to stay. We work with a pretty complicated complex safety net as one of the providers.”
The organization recently hired its first former mentee as a staff member, a milestone Solberg Potter said illustrates the power of survivor-centered support.
Because the commercial sexual exploitation of children is widely underreported, experts say no definitive national count exists. However, federal estimates suggest that roughly 199,000 incidents of sexual exploitation of minors occur each year in the United States, while between 244,000 and 325,000 youth may be at risk of exploitation.
With the recent Jeffrey Epstein revelations, Solberg Potter hopes residents understand that trafficking is not confined to distant places or big cities.
“It happens everywhere,” Solberg Potter said. “I think it’s important to understand that it can happen to any kid.”
At the same time, she noted that exploitation disproportionately affects vulnerable youth.
“Harm and violence to any child should be cared about,” she said. “All children should be safe.”
Anyone experiencing exploitation or concerned that a child may be experiencing exploitation can contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-373-7888 or text BeFree (233733). Those seeking help or wanting to learn more can be connected with local resources in Massachusetts, including My Life My Choice at mylifemychoice.org.
