“I am not a social worker. I'm not even a teacher. That's my fear, you know, of not really being able to do anything. Helping them access education will do no good, but without help they are doomed (Born into Brothels, 2004). Zana Briski made the statement in her documentary Born into Brothels, referring to the children of sex workers in Sonagachi. This statement illustrates child sparing, a dominant theme in children's discourse, which describes children as vulnerable, innocent and in need of "saving" from poverty and immorality according to a vision of a childhood universal (Wells, 2009, p. 28). Child safeguarding efforts remove children from their homes and families and place them in new homes or schools to discursively separate them from their parents (Wells, 2009, p. 28). They would therefore have the opportunity to succeed. Saving children based on Western conceptions of childhood has proven ineffective and culturally inappropriate when applied to international circumstances. By examining the method used by Zana Briski to save the children in Sonagachi and reviewing reviews of the film, one can determine that her method of saving the children was unnecessary and contributes to the domination of Western political discourse based on the concept of a universal childhood and what Western culture considers to be the “best interests” of the child. This essay will discuss Briski's method of saving children in Sonagachi, explore alternative options to saving children through structural reform and rights-based approaches, and examine how the use of images to save children and globalization of childhood creates political problems on an international scale. Briski's method is ineffective in that its focus in the middle of the article on structural issues would be a better approach to helping other cultures rather than forcing them to conform to the idea of ​​a universal childhood . Works CitedJeffrey, C.. “Geographies of Children and Youth II: Global Youth Agency.” Progress in Human Geography 36.2 (2012): 245-253. Print.Liebel, Manfred. “Working children as social subjects: the contribution of working children’s organizations to social transformations.” Childhood 10.3 (2003): 265-285. Print.Wells, Karen C.. “Policy and Practice.” Childhood in global perspective. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2009. 28-31. Print.Wells, Karen C.. “Children and Youth at War.” Childhood in global perspective. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2009. 152. Print. Wells, Karen C. “Saving the Children and Children’s Rights.” Childhood in global perspective. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2009. 168-169. Print.