The Concerned for Working Children – Mental Health and Wellbeing Praxis: From Community Practice to Policy Influence:
Posted on February 19, 2026
In the course of our work prior, during and post the Covid-19 pandemic, the challenges to the mental health and wellbeing of children and adolescents have become starkly apparent. The consequences of a fragmented support net, further fractured by the pandemic and other socio-economic impacts have been felt across the board, with certain populations of young people being more disproportionately impacted than others.
For over four decades, The Concerned for Working Children (CWC) has partnered with domain experts, community systems and young people themselves to build a community wellbeing support network in the areas where it works, while also influencing state and national policy. in the recent years, we have actively accentuated our mental health and wellbeing responses, both in community practices and policy engagements.
Our field interventions engage with highly vulnerable children from rural communities, working adolescents, children with disabilities, and those at risk of early marriage, trafficking, substance use or digital addiction. These children face ongoing rights violations, insecurity, caste discrimination and weak support from duty-bearers. Violence, alcoholism and unsafe home environments often push them towards harmful coping mechanisms such as substance use, school dropout or early marriage. Many live in crowded areas without safe play spaces, while increased digital exposure adds new risks. At the policy level, CWC has consistently foregrounded children’s mental health and wellbeing. As co-authors of the Karnataka State Child Protection Policy and contributors to District Child Rights Protection Protocols in Karnataka, we have ensured that mental health is recognised as a provision and a right of every child within these frameworks.
To understand CWC’s trajectory from Community Practice to Policy influence, click here: CWC_Mental Health Initiatives-FINAL_20251108_221538_0000 (1)
