Children Living or Working on the Street

Children living and working on the street are some of the most excluded and unprotected in the world. While some are homeless with their families, or return home at night after working on the street, many others are without parental care or a home and have no viable alternatives. This may be the result of family disintegration, conflict, poverty, HIV/AIDS, abuse or neglect. Life on the street exposes children to a myriad of risks and robs them of the safety and comfort that a family environment can offer.

Children living and working on the streets are highly vulnerable to abuse, exploitation, addictions, and crime, and lack access to everyday essential services such as health and education. Their situation is made more difficult as a result of social perceptions of street children. Street children are frequently targeted by the police, beaten, held and charged without due process. Government policies, institutions, and communities may exclude or marginalise children on the street, and deny their basic human rights.

Children living and working on the streets require legal protection by the state, recognition of their rights, and access to public services. Reception and drop- in centres can provide an entry point to basic services, including shelter, food and health provision, education, and income generation projects. While such initiatives can help to sustain children on the street and protect them from high risk behaviours, organisations working with vulnerable children need to work towards preventative measures to reduce the numbers of children who end up homeless. Prevention begins with an assessment of the causes of family separation, identification of those most at risk, and strategies to support family and community placements.

The opinions and preferences of children already on the street must form an integral part of any strategy since the empowerment of such children is necessary to effect change in their own lives. Community reintegration services should be established where possible to provide children with an alternative to street life. All placements, such as kinship or foster care, must be regulated to ensure that they meet the needs of children and are in their best interests.

The resources in this section provide statistical and country information on the situation of children living and working on the street, assessments of their needs, and intervention examples relating to support services, care planning, and access to health and education programmes.

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Making the Invisible Visible: An Enumeration of Children on the Streets in Malawi

Retrak, Chisomo Children’s Club, and the Malawi Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability, and Social Welfare, 01 Jul 2015

Through this enumeration study, Retrak, Chisomo Children’s Club, and the Malawi Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability, and Social Welfare sought to address the lack of information on the number of children living and working on the streets in Malawi.

Country Care Review: Ghana

Better Care Network, 09 Jun 2015

This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Country Care Review: Mexico

Better Care Network, 08 Jun 2015

This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Country Care Review: Eritrea

Better Care Network, 08 Jun 2015

This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

The lived experiences of children living on the streets of Hillbrow

Chris Myburgh, Aneesa Moolla, & Marie Poggenpoel - Curationis 38(1), 22 May 2015

The aim of this research was to explore and describe the lived experiences of children living on the streets of Hillbrow, Johannesburg, with a focus on children’s mental health and wellbeing.

Exploring Economic Strengthening within Family Reintegration

Retrak, 01 Apr 2015

This small research project was conceived to investigate the issues surrounding economic strengthening with Retrak Ethiopia’s reintegration programmes with the aim of seeking new ways to address the challenges.

Building a Holistic Child Protection System, Step by Step, in the United Republic of Tanzania

UNICEF , 2015

This case study of the child protection system in the United Republic of Tanzania is part of a UNICEF global initiative, undertaken in collaboration with Global Affairs Canada to document national child protection frameworks to gain an understanding of the country, the response of government and other actors, as well as other factors contributing to success in protecting children from violence, exploitation and abuse.

A study on reintegration of street children in Burundi: experienced violence and maltreatment are associated with mental health impairments and impeded educational progress

Anselm Crombach, Manassé Bambonyé and Thomas Elbert - Frontiers in Psychology, 01 Dec 2014

This article outlines findings from research on current and former street children in Burundi, that assesses the extent to which violence can affect children’s mental well-being and psychological functioning, and thus limit their reintegration.

Behind the Walls

Lumos, 11 Nov 2014

The video discusses the institutionalization of eight million children in Central and Eastern Europe following the fall of the Berlin Wall, and underscores that many of the children these orphanages have families.

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Approaching Outreach Work

Joanna Wakia, Retrak, 01 Oct 2014

In this paper, Retrak outlines its approach to conducting outreach work with children living and working on the streets.