The Memory Map Pattern of Trafficked Children and Its Influencing Elements: Evidence from Successful Cases of Seeking Relatives

Child trafficking has been repeatedly criminalized and has become a timely and important issue of concern to society and academia. Most existing studies focus on macro-analyses and lack a memory-space discussion based on typical trafficking cases. Based on case data extracted from the "Baobeihuijia" public service platform, this study explores the memory space/map pattern and its influencing elements in the process of seeking for relatives of trafficked children. Text analysis, cognitive map analysis, and case studies were used. The results show the following: (1) The memory space of trafficked children is composed of local, family, and individual knowledge. Local knowledge includes the natural physical environment and social and cultural environment factors; family knowledge includes family member information, kinship, and other elements; and individual knowledge includes factors such as self-identification characteristics and the clothing they were wearing. (2) The memory space of trafficked children is for