“Anything Can Happen Here”: Mother–Child Experiences Navigating Life as Residents of an Urban Red-Light Brothel District in India

Female sex workers as mothers are disproportionately disadvantaged and experience myriad intersecting vulnerabilities, including poverty, physical and mental health challenges, limited access to health care and health care providers, stigma and discrimination, substance use, and histories of trauma. These risks elevate the potential for negative developmental outcomes for their children. To date, little information exists on the contextual and familial dynamics of female sex workers and their children. Yet, this information is critical for providing effective, evidence-informed interventions. This is a life-course developmental examination of female sex workers and their children residing in an urban brothel district in India, framed in ecological systems theory. From mothers, we were particularly interested in developmental trajectories that led to commercial sex work, intergenerational family dynamics, microsystems of mothers and their children (residence patterns), and concerns for child wellbeing given environmental dangers of the red-light areas. Inquiries with children were aimed at understanding the family microsystem—dynamics and residence, other influential microsystems (peer and school), as well as the larger red-light district neighborhood (exosystem) and future aspirations. Most mothers had been trafficked into the sex industry. Because of their work, few remained in contact with families of origin. Mothers' concerns included generating income, getting children educated, and returning children to hostels. Prior to the pandemic, most child participants lived in hostels rather than the red-light area and described it as dirty and unsafe. Children described types of social support given and received by mothers and prioritized education. Continued policy and research that explore innovative measures for limiting social disparities in educational attainment for vulnerable children (e.g., mobile school programs) are recommended.