Why children in government care face a higher risk of sexual exploitation
asserted
children → face → exploitation
N.S. woman recalls her experience, fears kids in care are 'easiest targets' for human traffickers
Kyesha Boudreau spent part of her childhood shuffling through roughly 12 foster homes, leaving her with a painful sense that families had put her under a microscope and decided not to choose her.
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families → recall → her
“I feel like I got picked over,” she said in a recent interview at her home in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley.
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she → feel → Valley
She firmly believes that pain set her up to be a target of sexual exploitation later as a teenager living in group homes.
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pain → believe → homes
People who work with youth in government care have long understood these children are particularly vulnerable to human traffickers.
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children → work → traffickers
Court decisions as recent as December 2025 describe men buying and selling sex with girls who lived in Nova Scotia group homes, some as young as 14.
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who → describe → 14
According to a senior Crown prosecutor who worked on some of the cases, sexual predators found victims by lurking near the homes or scoping them out on social media.
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predators → accord → media
Many survivors now face “devastating long-lasting impacts.”
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survivors → face → impacts
Boudreau, 28, said it's deeply upsetting a decade after her own experience that it continues to be a major issue in the child welfare system.
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it → say → system
She believes children in group homes are the “easiest targets” for traffickers because when staff can't meet their emotional needs, youth turn to anyone offering “the slightest bit of love, affection, attention.”
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youth → believe → attention
“All someone has to do that wants to pimp you out — I've seen it happen so many times and even in my own experience — they will come up to you, they'll offer you anything they know you want,” she said.
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she → have → anything
That’s why Boudreau thinks her longing to be chosen left her vulnerable to be picked for all the wrong reasons.
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longing → ’ → reasons
“A kid in care, they're going to see that as the best part because when have you ever been chosen?
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you → go → part
You're obviously not chosen,” she said.
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she → choose → ?
Gifts and social media
Human or sexual trafficking relies on coercion, meaning the trafficker uses threats or manipulation to force someone into providing sexual or other services.
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trafficker → rely → services
Statistics Canada data from 2024 shows Nova Scotia had the highest rate of human trafficking of any province, at 4.5 police-reported incidents per 100,000 people.
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Scotia → show → people
Senior Crown attorney Katie Lovett, who has prosecuted more than a dozen human trafficking cases in Nova Scotia, said perpetrators look for targets lacking something in their everyday lives.
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perpetrators → prosecute → lives
Those needs might be food, shelter, alcohol or drugs — or emotional support, such as a trusted adult to lean on.
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needs → lean → adult
“They will use that need to build trust with that person and eventually manipulate and exploit them,” Lovett said.
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Lovett → use → them
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police → lay → man
More suspects, more charges in Halifax-area human trafficking case
She’s known traffickers to hang around gas stations or convenience stores near group homes.
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She → know → homes
That gives them a chance to offer to buy the target something like a pack of cigarettes, opening the door for further contact or gifts.
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That → give → contact
This can continue for months, Lovett said.
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Lovett → continue → months
“Eventually they will stop and they will tell the person, I've bought you $500 worth of items in the past month, you need to pay me back,” she said.
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she → stop → me
Traffickers also use social media to approach teens and build trust.
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Traffickers → use → trust
By befriending a youth online, Lovett said, traffickers can check their friend list to identify others living in the same group home.
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traffickers → befriend → home
Location-sharing features on platforms like Snapchat create additional risks.
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features → share → risks
If a youth has their location turned on, traffickers can track them on a map in real time.
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traffickers → have → time
Lovett said she’s also known of cases where teens have handed over access to their social media accounts.
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teens → say → accounts
“It might not be a long time period [of access], but for enough time for them to go on and try to make connections that they can use later on,” she said.
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she → go → that
Subtle coercion
Ashley Tiller wants to dispel the myth that human trafficking involves a stranger snatching a victim off the street and forcing them into a vehicle.
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stranger → want → vehicle
“That sensationalized version is not how it commonly occurs,” said Tiller, who manages several gender-based violence support programs at the YWCA Halifax.
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who → occur → Halifax
The YWCA operates a peer support program and safe house for human trafficking survivors.
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YWCA → operate → survivors
Trafficking can happen in the community where the victim lives, she said, and most cases involve women and girls who may take a long time to recognize the warning signs.
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who → happen → signs
Tiller said that’s because the trafficker can often be a friend or romantic partner who excels at making the target feel loved and cared for.
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target → say → ?
“Maybe it's the two of them against the world together,” she said.
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she → say → world
Tiller said the relationship slowly starts to shift, perhaps with the trafficker pushing different sexual experiences until the target agrees.
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target → say → experiences
“Step by step, trying to push boundaries in a new way to make things that previously were outside of somebody's comfort zone on the table,” she said.
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she → try → table
‘They’ll watch you for a few days’
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They → watch → days
Some traffickers set up situations where they can meet youth in person.
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they → set → person
…and 36 more, not listed.
The Aporia
