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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Children and adolescents without parental care in Latin America: Contexts, causes and consequences of being deprived of the right to family and community

RELAF and SOS Children’s Villages International, 01 Jun 2010

This paper is based on The Latin American Report: The situation of children in Latin America without parental care or at risk of losing it. Contexts, causes and responses, which was prepared using reports from 13 countries in the region. The paper gives an overview of the state of one of the most fundamental rights - the right to parental care, a keystone for the right to live in a family and a community.

My So Called Emancipation: From Foster Care to Homelessness for California Youth

Human Rights Watch, 01 May 2010

This 70-page report documents the struggles of foster care youth who become homeless after turning 18, or "aging out" of the state's care, without sufficient preparation or support for adulthood

http://www.crin.org/docs/MySoCalledEmancipation.pdf

Off the Backs of Children: Forced Begging and Other Abuses against Talibés in Senegal

Human Rights Watch , 01 Apr 2010

Human Rights Watch report on the illicit practices of forced child begging and other abuses perpetrated against children in residential Quranic schools. Includes recommendations to government entities on action needed to reverse abuse and neglect of children in these situations.

Off the Backs of the Children: Forced Begging and Other Abuses against Talibés in Senegal

Human Rights Watch, 01 Apr 2010

This report is based on 11 weeks of field research in Senegal and Guinea-Bissau between November 2009 and February 2010.

Every child deserves a family: EveryChild's approach to children without parental care

Emily Delap , 01 Nov 2009

This document outlines EveryChild’s approach to the growing problem of children without parental care by defining key concepts, analysing the nature and extent of the problem, exploring factors which place children at risk of losing parental care, and examining the impact of a loss of parental care on children’s rights.

Preventing violence through the development of safe, stable and nurturing relationships between children and their parents and caregivers

WHO and Liverpool John Moores University, 2009

This briefing looks at the effectiveness of interventions that encourage safe, stable and nurturing relationships for preventing child maltreatment and aggressive behaviour in childhood. The focus is on primary prevention programmes, those that are implemented early enough to avoid the development of violent behaviour such as child maltreatment and childhood aggression.

Violence prevention: the evidence

WHO and Liverpool John Moores University, 2009

This report brings together an eight-part series of briefings on the evidence for interventions to prevent interpersonal and self-directed violence. By spotlighting evidence for the effectiveness of interventions, the series provides clear directions for how violence prevention funders, policy makers and programme implementers can boost the impact of their violence prevention efforts.