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. 

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Elizabeth Jones, Leslie Gutman, and Lucinda Platt ,

This new study from the Childhood Wellbeing Research Centre, an independent research center with funding from the United Kingdom Department for Education, identifies which family stress factors and parental behaviors are associated with positive and negative outcomes for children at the age of 7 and whether stressful life events experienced in childhood are associated with negative outcomes in adolescence.

The ChildSafe network,

The ChildSafe network has produced important information for people who might be traveling abroad and can be confronted by situations where children are in distress or at risk of being abused or harmed, including through the practice of "orphan tourism".

United States Government,

The Action Plan on Children in Adversity is the first government wide strategic guidance for U.S. Government international assistance for children. The goal of the Action Plan is to achieve a world in which all children grow up within protective family care and free from deprivation, exploitation, and danger. It has three principal objectives, with Objective 2 specifically focusing on the importance of promoting family care and prevention of family-child separation.

Emily Delap ,

This inter-agency paper was written by Family for Every Child, Better Care Network, Consortium for Street Children, Save the Children, SOS Children’s Villages, and World Vision, for submission to the United Nations consultation: ‘Health in the Post-2015 Development Agenda.’ It examines the links between child protection and health and argues for a continuing focus on health and child survival that encompasses particular goals and indicators on children’s protection.

Neil Boothby, Mike Wessells, John Williamson, Gillian Huebner, Kelly Canter, Eduardo Garcia Rolland, Vesna Kutlesic, Farah Bader, Lena Diaw, Maya Levine, Anita Malley, Kathleen Michels, Sonali Patel, Tanya Rasa, Fred Ssewamala, Vicki Walker,

The purpose of this review was to identify evidence-based early response strategies and interventions for improving the outcomes of children outside of family care, including children of and on the street, institutionalized children, trafficked children, and children affected by conflict and disaster, and who are exploited for their labor. A conclusion was drawn that there is a strong need for strengthening the evidence base regarding the effectiveness or early assessments and responses to children living outside family care and for using evidence to guide operational policy and practice.

Retrak,

In this report, Retrak examines the situation of girls living on the streets in Kampala, Uganda and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and provides key recommendations on the development programs required to address their needs. The report urges for scaling up services, building new facilities for street girls, and building staff capacity to handle issues related to this population.

Andy West & Emily Delap ,

The lack of care and protection facing children is a global crisis with billions of children experiencing abuse, neglect or exploitation, and many millions growing up outside of families, on the streets or in harmful institutional care. This lack of adequate care and protection is commonly the result of inequalities. Children without adequate care and protection are stigmatized and have inequitable access to basic services which, severely diminishes life chances and creates a spiral of disadvantage. In order to break this spiral, the authors of this report recommend a three-pronged strategy.

Save the Children UK and UNICEF,

Research was conducted in five Rift Valley towns in Kenya in 2011 to understand the link between emergencies and the perceived increase of children joining the streets. Findings show that emergencies such as Post Election Violence and drought have caused children to join the streets. By far the biggest reason for children joining the streets was food insecurity. The authors advocate for an urgent, large-scale response to place children currently connected to the streets in durable situations in tandem with a multi-sectorial development approach to tackle and address the root of the crisis.

Kristen Smith & Joanna Wakia ,

Retrak’s technical brief on family reintegration for children living on the streets, acknowledges the difficulties which street children face at home and on the streets. But it also demonstrates that successful family reintegration is possible for street children when there is a focus on the individual child, building positive attachments with care-givers, strengthening families capabilities and involving the wider community.

Retrak,

Retrak is a UK based charity that works with street associated children in Africa to give them a real alternative to life on the street. The following success stories of outreach and reintegration show a promising model for children globally.