Updates on Our Work to Address the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children

MACA’s work to address the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) continued to grow and deepen in 2025. Driven by the CSEC Service Enhancement Project and the dedicated CSEC Case Managers we support in all 12 counties across the Commonwealth, this year marked a series of landmark achievements:

In 2025, 1,257 unique individuals in Massachusetts received services through our CSEC Service Enhancement Project. This represents a 44% increase in the number of children served since 2019, and a 21% increase from fiscal years 2023 to 2025 alone. The data make clear that the need for specialized, coordinated CSEC response continues to grow across the Commonwealth.

Among those served in 2025:

One of the most significant findings in this year’s data is the growing proportion of CSEC cases involving only online contact, underscoring digital platforms as a core risk factor in exploitation. CSAM and internet-based sextortion cases increasingly overlap with broader abuse patterns, particularly among school-aged youth. Exploitation tactics in online spaces are sophisticated, involving identity deception, blackmail, and financial or emotional coercion that place youth at serious risk well before any in-person contact occurs.

National data reported by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) reflect a parallel trend, showing a dramatic spike in online crimes against children, with double the number of reports compared to the prior year.

These alarming trends are reshaping how our network approaches prevention, early awareness, and rapid reporting to ensure that our response reflects where exploitation is actually surfacing in the lives of young people today.

Following a successful pilot with three CACs, MACA launched the CSEC MDT Core Standards statewide in January 2025, expanding implementation to all 12 Children’s Advocacy Centers across the Commonwealth. Massachusetts remains one of the only states in the country with its own state-specific core standards for CSEC response, a distinction that reflects the strength and leadership of our network.

The Core Standards provide six guidelines for how multidisciplinary teams responding to CSEC should be established, trained, and structured to ensure that every response is trauma-informed, victim-centered, and consistent with best practices. Following the statewide rollout, an independent evaluation conducted by Northeastern University’s Public Evaluation Lab (NU-PEL) found that CACs are successfully implementing the majority of the Core Standards. Training and community education were identified as the primary areas for continued growth and focus in the year ahead.

The Core Standards initiative itself grew directly out of the CSEC Service Enhancement Project and the on-the-ground expertise of the Case Managers our network supports in every county. Their work has been the catalyst for system-wide improvements and a more coordinated, effective response to exploitation across Massachusetts.

MACA is proud to partner with our Children’s Justice Act (CJA) Task Force, whose funding and support have been instrumental in advancing our CSEC work. CJA funding supports system improvements in the investigation, prosecution, and judicial handling of child abuse and exploitation cases in ways that limit additional trauma to child victims. This partnership has been essential in supporting the successful implementation and independent evaluation of the CSEC MDT Core Standards in collaboration with NU-PEL, and continues to strengthen coordinated, data-driven practice across our network.

In 2025, MACA was proud to contribute to the development of the Massachusetts Five-Year Statewide Plan to Address Sex Trafficking, a coordinated roadmap for preventing and responding to sex trafficking across the Commonwealth. MACA’s Statewide CSEC Program Manager, Latirah Cisero, served on the Governor’s Council Subcommittee on Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking, where she elevated the remarkable work of our CACs and the CSEC MDT Core Standards. As a result, CACs, MACA, and the Core Standards are featured prominently in the final plan.

This means that multidisciplinary teams across the state will have access to consistent, evidence-based practices, and it positions Massachusetts as a model for coordinated, trauma-informed, victim-centered responses to exploitation at the systems level.

As we move into 2026, MACA is focused on building upon the momentum of this landmark year. We will continue to deepen our evaluation and data collection partnership with NU-PEL, with enhanced data now capturing: