CONTEXT In Bangladesh, there are 10 registered brothels; 3721 sex workers and 1100 children (age 0-18) are living there. Sex workers and their children are deprived of their basic rights and face abuse and violence in their daily lives. The children living inside the brothels are exposed to early sexuality, subject to physical, psychological abuse and maltreatment. Daughters of sex workers are at risk of getting involved in sex work.

BACKGROUND In 1997, Save the Children implemented Safe Home project in Daulatdia brothel. Safe Home started by providing residential care support to daughters of sex workers. Over the years, the project has evolved to identify community-based care solutions for them. Presently Save the Children is implementing an integrated programme comprised of child protection, education and health components in three brothels by three local NGOS in two districts.

MAJOR INTERVENTIONS Provided residential, basic care, recreational and psychosocial support to girls staying in the Safe Home. Built capacity of the girls through trainings, workshops and awareness sessions on child rights and child protection. Reintegrated girls with families/communities following assessment and developing a case management plan. Provided counselling to mothers and other family members. Food, clothing, school uniform, medical, emergency, psychosocial, and counselling. Art, dance, computer classes, drama, cricket.

MAJOR INTERVENTIONS Ensured home visits for safe and smooth transitioning into families and communities. Linked the girls with vocational and other industrial training for ensuring alternative livelihood options. Conducted community level awareness and local level advocacy for ensuring access of their mothers to social protection schemes, and making duty bearers accountable.

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS 120 Girls received support from Safe Home since the beginning and able to protect themselves from abuse and exploitation. 79 Girls have been reintegrated with families/communities through education or marriage. 29 Girls have been reintegrated but linked with Safe Home for emotional support. 12 Girls are in direct care services of Safe Home.

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS 14 Girls are continuing higher education in different universities while working. 35 Girls have completed Secondary School Certificate (SSC); among them, 21 girls completed Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC). 23 Girls received vocational training and among them 18 girls are continuing jobs.

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS Some of the employed girls are renting homes and bringing their mothers outside the brothel. Sex workers are sensitized on the importance of education of their children, and are empowered to claim rights. Children of sex workers experienced increased acceptance within mainstream society. Community-based groups and local administration helped in creating a protective environment for children.

GOOD PRACTICES Facilitated meaningful child participation in running Safe Home activities. Established a Case Management system. Evaluation of staff capacity by external and internal experts followed by implementation of professional development plans. Developed standards for ensuring quality of care. On-going focus on documentation and knowledge management.

MENTAL HEALTH CARE Provided psychosocial counselling (individual and group) by external and internal experts. Built staff capacity by external and internal psychosocial experts to make them understand about child development, age appropriate needs and well-being. Girls spent vacation with mothers in their home districts for keeping an emotional bonding and attachment with their mothers. Allowed mothers to invest quality time with their daughters twice in a week. Arranged recreational activities on a regular basis and yearly learning and sharing workshop. Arranged monthly meetings with their mothers to update them on reintegration process, education and health of their daughters; some were trained on Positive Discipline in Everyday Parenting.

MAJOR CHALLENGES Poor support and acceptance of community people regarding reintegration of girls from Safe Home to mainstream community at the initial stage, which was overcome to a large extent as a result of advocacy. It was challenging for the girls to adjust outside Safe Home; this was addressed through on-going counseling and support. Attitudes of mothers was a challenge in the beginning, as some of them wanted to take the children back to the brothel to engage them in sex work. Government is not ready to provide holistic support to the children living in the institutions. Union and upazilla level advocacy. As their living arrangement and way of life has been changing. earning capacity decreased; huge amount of motivational work was required.

LESSONS LEARNT Providing long-term educational support and linking girls with alternative livelihood options helped them to become self-reliant and reintegrate into family and wider community. Rigorous psychosocial support is required while children shift into family and community lives from an institutional setting. Having a proper case management system of children living in institutions is important for their family and community reintegration. On-going capacity building of staff is required to ensure quality programming. Coordination, linkage and capacity building of the government agencies and like-minded organizations can create a strong ownership of them regarding Safe Home and other community-based alternative care options for children of sex workers.

WAY FORWARD Motivate mothers so that they continue to make financial contribution in their children’s education as well as protection, and provide them mental support. Coordinate, link and build capacity of the local and national level government stakeholders to ensure services for the children living in institutions. Continue advocacy with the government in strengthening an alternative care system. Document the process, generate case stories for sharing with media, donors, government departments and development partners.