Abstract
Background: Many of India’s estimated 40 million migrant workers in the construction industry migrate with their
children. Though India is undergoing rapid economic growth, numerous child protection issues remain. Migrant
workers and their children face serious threats to their health, safety, and well-being. We examined risk and
protective factors influencing the basic rights and protections of children and families living and working at a
construction site outside Delhi.
Methods: Using case study methods and a rights-based model of child protection, the SAFE model, we
triangulated data from in-depth interviews with stakeholders on and near the site (including employees,
middlemen, and managers); 14 participants, interviews with child protection and corporate policy experts in greater
Delhi (8 participants), and focus group discussions (FGD) with workers (4 FGDs, 25 members) and their children
(2 FGDs, 9 members).
Results: Analyses illuminated complex and interrelated stressors characterizing the health and well-being of
migrant workers and their children in urban settings. These included limited access to healthcare, few educational
opportunities, piecemeal wages, and unsafe or unsanitary living and working conditions. Analyses also identified
both protective and potentially dangerous survival strategies, such as child labor, undertaken by migrant families in
the face of these challenges.
Conclusions: By exploring the risks faced by migrant workers and their children in the urban construction industry
in India, we illustrate the alarming implications for their health, safety, livelihoods, and development. Our findings,
illuminated through the SAFE model, call attention to the need for enhanced systems of corporate and
government accountability as well as the implementation of holistic child-focused and child-friendly policies and
programs in order to ensure the rights and protection of this hyper-mobile, and often invisible, population.