Child labor: what are the caregivers of these children missing?
June 12 is Brazil’s National Day Against Child Labor. In Brazil, 1.6 million children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 were in this situation in 2024, according to the most recent data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). Of this total, 1.195 million carried out various economic activities, while 455,000 produced only for their own consumption, mainly in subsistence farming.
A dashboard from the Ministry of Labor and Employment released in February showed that less than 1% of this total was reached by labor inspections and that only 2,745 children and adolescents were removed from this situation throughout 2024. Given such a serious scenario, we need to look beyond the statistics: what are families lacking that leads a child or adolescent to need to work?
What is child labor?
According to IBGE, child labor is work that is harmful to the health and development of children and adolescents. To classify it, criteria such as age group, type of activity, number of hours worked, school attendance and exposure to danger are taken into account. For this reason, programs such as Jovem Aprendiz (Young Apprentice) do not fall into the category of child labor.
In Brazil, adolescents can work from the age of 14 only as apprentices, under a special contract that combines practical activity, professional training and school attendance. This modality differs from child labor because it must respect limits on working hours, protect the adolescent’s development and not harm their studies.
For Franciele Fernandes, a social worker at IC, this is “the best of both worlds” when an adolescent wants or needs to earn some income. “In the Young Apprentice program, there’s full oversight by the training organizations,” she says. “The problem is child labor. When it comes to work for adolescents, I see no problem at all if everything is within the law, with no harm to the young person’s health.”
A reflection of society
When we talk about child labor, it is important not to point fingers before understanding why a family ended up in this situation. That is what Jéssica Cruz, an educator at Instituto C, says. “Parents and caregivers sometimes don’t understand the harm that can happen to children, so how can I blame someone who doesn’t even know this exists?” When a child stops playing and starts working, it reflects the entire society in which they live. After all, why aren’t the rights guaranteed by the Statute of Children and Adolescents (ECA) reaching them?
The answer to this question is multifaceted and should not be generalized. “In social work, we understand that each family is unique and has countless reasons for living the way it does,” says Franciele. “Social vulnerability itself ends up leading children into this.” Often, when caregivers lack time, money, knowledge and a support network, young people end up having to help with household bills at an early age. However, this reality should not be understood as natural or acceptable, but as a reflection of social inequalities and of the need to strengthen public policies that protect children and adolescents.
Work and child development
According to Jéssica, child labor can affect children’s development in different ways, especially when they are deprived of the right to play, an essential activity at this stage. It can, for example, harm their physical health, especially in situations involving risk of accidents, long working hours, intense physical effort (such as carrying excessive weight) or exposure to toxic substances, machinery, dangerous tools and adverse conditions (such as extreme cold or heat).
There’s also cognitive development in education. The child’s school performance drops, and they have trouble concentrating and learning — that is, when they don’t drop out of school altogether (…). This child will probably have fewer opportunities for training, because they’re not going to school. So they may end up losing sight of a professional future beyond the activity they’re doing at that moment,” says Jéssica.
Childhood work also harms children’s emotional development. The buildup of stress, pressure and anxiety can confuse them to the point that they cannot understand or name what they feel, generating feelings of inferiority and low self-esteem. In addition, there are losses in social development, since they spend less time with other children developing the skills to talk and get along with others.
Child labor doesn’t stay in childhood; it can cause problems well into adulthood,” she concludes.
The responsibility of older siblings
In addition to paid work, there is another responsibility that often falls on children and adolescents: caring for younger siblings. In overburdened families, especially when there is a child with a disability who requires therapies, appointments and constant attention, older children may end up taking on adult tasks far too early.
“At Instituto C, I see this role of caring for siblings more than the role of worker,” says Franciele. According to her, there are children and adolescents who grow up as their mother’s main source of support, even though they also need to live their own childhood. “There are many 12-year-olds who already help care for their siblings. But they also have the right to a childhood.”
Childhood, care and survival
That is why, to prevent child labor, we need to look at those who provide care. When a caregiver is overburdened, without sufficient income, without a support network and with little access to rights, children and adolescents may end up taking on responsibilities too early. That is what happened to Zola*, 31, who is supported at Instituto C’s Central Hub.
*A fictitious name used to protect the interviewee’s identity.
As a child, she lived with her mother, father and seven siblings in a single room the family had inherited. Their income was insufficient, and her mother tried to provide for them however she could: she took in laundry, worked as a cleaner, worked at a market stall and even begged on the street to get food for her children.
Over time, she found another alternative. “My mom would rather buy a box of candy for us to sell on the street than teach my sisters to beg,” she recalls. Work, in that context, appeared as an attempt to survive in the face of hunger and the lack of basic living conditions. “We went through a lot of hardship. When it rained, our house flooded,” she says. “So, to avoid going without, we’d go sell candy on the street so we’d have something to eat.” Today, Zola is married, owns her home and is the mother of two neurodivergent children, aged 13 and 11. Her husband has a formal job, and she gave up her registered employment to go back to selling candy on the street, giving her more time to care for them.
So it’s not the mothers’ fault; we can’t simply blame anyone, because sometimes it’s a way of surviving. The solution [involves] strengthening and having support networks. Going, for example, to the school and telling them what you’re going through, so they can find the best way to help (…). What we want is the guarantee of rights and for everyone to know they’re not alone,” concludes Jéssica.
If you know of an irregular child labor situation, report it. Reports can be made through Disque 100, a free hotline that operates 24 hours a day, every day of the week, or through the Sistema Ipê Trabalho Infantil, the Labor Inspectorate’s channel dedicated specifically to child labor reports. You can also contact your municipality’s Conselho Tutelar (Child Protection Council). Reports can be anonymous and help activate the protection network for children and adolescents.