National award goes to paper on at-risk children of Mumbai's brothels

29 Aug 2018     By Katie Ballue

Rochelle Dalla, professor, received the 2018 National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) Families and Health Section Outstanding Professional Publication Award for a paper that looks deeper into the lives of the children of the red-light district in Mumbai, India.

The paper, “Children of Mumbai’s Brothels: Investigating Developmental Prospects, Primary Relationships, and Service Provisions,” co-authored by Sarah Erwin, a CYAF Ph.D. student, and Lee Kreimer, a former undergraduate research assistant to Dalla, investigates the lives of brothel-based children, a uniquely vulnerable sub-set of ‘at-risk’ children.

Using interview data collected from 30 women residing in Mumbai’s red-light brothel districts as well as 9 service providers, this study addressed four goals.  First, to answer the question “who are brothel-based children?” by revealing important demographic information. Second, to explore mothers’ relationships with their children and goals for their children’s development. The third goal was to identify and describe formal services available to brothel-based children.  Finally, to examine the linkages between service providers and children’s mothers as well as linkages across service providers.

In addition to the award, Dalla was invited to attend the Families and Health section meeting at the national NCFR conference to share highlights of the paper and receive the award, and to share more about the paper during round table sessions in San Diego, California in November and will serve on the 2019 national committee for the award.