Mobile Juniors: Street Children, Orphanhood and Child Development

Abstract

UNICEF and its global partners define an orphan, as is Child who has lost one or both parents as a result of death of one parent or both parents. A street child as per UNICEF funded ZIM 2001 study, formulated by Inter-NGOs in Switzerland in 1983, is “any girl or boy who has not reached adulthood, for whom the street (in the broadest sense of the world, including unoccupied dwellings, wastelands, etc.) has become her or his habitual abode and/or sources of livelihood, and who is inadequately protected, supervised or directed by responsible adults’’. Children whose parents are deceased or otherwise unable or unwilling to care for them may become street children. Parents, and sometimes grandparents, are legally responsible for supporting children, but in the absence of these or other relatives willing to care for the children, they become children of family relatives, older siblings or much worse Street Children. The purpose of this paper is to review and share the literature on the problem of street children and orphanhood, its impact on Child Growth and Development, Economies and Public Health as a whole and provide recommendation to guide policymaking and further research.