Problem Of Street Children Research Articles

Providing Sustainable Supports for Street Children in Nigeria:Stakeholders Challenges and the Policy Options Available

This article examines the limitations of all stakeholders in providing support for street children in Nigeria in the face of continuous increase in their number with a view to identify possible policy options in the light of inabilities of the stakeholders to adequately support the children. Qualitative research techniques were employed to collect the primary data from NGOs, community members and government agencies saddled with the responsibility of caring for the children. It was found that the stakeholders are incapable of addressing the problems of street children due to inadequate skills, lack of necessary facilities and stakeholders working in parallels among others. It emphasizes the need for collaboration among stakeholders to enjoy the benefit of synergy while there is also need to embark on capacity development for all the stakeholders in order to make meaningful progress and the situation of the street children improved in the country.

An intervention programme to improve the quality of life of street children in Mopani district, Limpopo Province, South Africa

The aim of the study was to develop an intervention programme to improve the quality of life of street children in the Mopani district of Limpopo Province, South Africa. The intervention programme was developed based on the findings of the main study, which discussed the lived experiences of street children in Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality of Limpopo Province. The study generated the question "which intervention programme is required to improve the quality of life of street children"? Results indicate that some of the street children who participated in this study experienced feelings of relief from the stressful situation they experienced at home as a result the streets provided an alternative home. Participants indicated their relief from the problems such as abuse by family members, especially step-fathers; lack of satisfaction of basic needs at home; and pressure to perform according to others' expectations. Street children experienced negative feelings such as anger, depression and frustration due to lack of basic needs and their uncertain future. Programme development in this study followed the primary health care approach namely the primary level where focus is on how to prevent the problem, secondary level deals with early detection and reversal of the problem and lastly the tertiary prevention and care, which focuses on reduction and curbing of further development of other pathologies in the street children. Ethical and trustworthiness principles were ensured. This study draws attention to the need to enhance delivery of social welfare services to street children and may also assist the municipalities in the planning of programmes to address the problem of street children.

Need-Based Street Children Management in Surakarta City of Central Java Province of Indonesia

The objective of research is to find out the characteristics of street children, the cause of children becoming street children, and the management of street children problems in Surakarta City. As the marginalized and alienated children from the hard environment of city, the some street children living and working in the street, work in the street but still return back to their parents’ home everyday, then some of them work in the street and return back to their origin once in 1 – 3 months and the problematic street adolescents disperse in a variety of certain zones because of poverty, domestic violence, parents’ encouragement, and children’s environmental factor. The management of street children is determined by the need and problem the street children is facing whether using street based with street literacy, centre based and re-socialization through the open house for street children as well as community based approaches by conducting activity and advocacy on the street children problems involving all potencies of society. In fact, the approaches above are overlapping. The most important point is our empathy and commitment to manager the street children problem.

Breaking the Cycle of Despair: Street Children in Guatemala City

This article focuses on the problem of street children in Guatemala City. It provides a description of the way street children live and offers several theories as to why the situation arose. Finally, the Article critically discusses attempts to help the street children of Guatemala and proposes alternative solutions. In researching this Article, the author spent time working with street children in Guatemala.

Mobile Juniors: Street Children, Orphanhood and Child Development

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.

Social networks and livelihood of street children in Ibadan, Nigeria

In Nigeria, in spite of remarkable natural and human resources, most people have tasted the bitter pills of poverty; however, children in Nigeria experience poverty differently. This is particularly noteworthy in the way most children are deprived of nutrition, water, sanitation facilities, access to basic health-care services, shelter, education and protection. Hence, poverty makes them unable to enjoy their rights, participate as full members of the society. Based on the foregoing, this paper presents the results of a study conducted on social networks and livelihood of street children in Ibadan, Nigeria. It investigates the causes, incidence of poverty among street children and the relevance of their social networks to their survival on the streets. Data were collected through triangulation of in-depth interviews (IDIs), case studies, structured questionnaire and focus group discussions. A sample of two hundred and seventy-five respondents was selected for the survey. The results indicate a strong relationship between poverty and living on the street. Most street children involved in different delinquent acts such as stealing, consumption of psychoactive drugs, under age drinking of alcohol, gambling etc, some were not delinquents as they positively utilized the available social network of support for upward social mobility. To address the problems of street children, it is suggested that governments should adhere strictly to Millileum Development Goals (MDGs) in Nigeria. Essentially, the gaps between the promises made and the actions taken should be bridged by the government (Local, State and Federal). Key words: Street based children, delinquency, approved schools, rehabilitation, social networks, livelihood.

The Relationship Between Street Children and the Justice System in Egypt

This article examines the relationship between street children and the justice system in Egypt. After introducing the context of street children in the Egyptian case, it explores whether the justice system exacerbates the problem of street children and whether its potential to play a positive part in alleviating the problem should be revisited. The article then explores the basis for the negative perspective on the role of the justice system and the steps required to improve its role in solving the problem of the increasing number of street children. It concludes with a three-pronged approach for the Egyptian justice system to adopt to effectively address the problem of street children. The article is based on an existing knowledge base that is scattered in small-sample empirical studies, large-scale surveys, United Nations reports, newspapers, and a few academic articles written in both English and Arabic.

Reproductive Health Behaviour and Problems of Street Children in Ibadan, Nigeria

The study looks at the reproductive health behaviour and associated problems of street children, using some Ibadan markets and taxi parks as a case study. The study employed the use of surveys, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions to collect information from street children and significant others in their environment. The findings reveal that street children in Ibadan engage in risky sexual behaviour, maintain multiple sex partners and rarely use condoms. As a result, street children are at a great risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS.

Chinese policy reaction to the problem of street children: An analysis from the perspective of street children

The effectiveness of the government-managed Protection and Education Centre for Street Children program in China was examined based on a 7-month ethnographic study of street children in public streets and at the centre in Shanghai. The program's intermediate goals are to provide education and protection for street children, and its ultimate goal is to restore them back to their own families. However, this study shows that most of the street children disliked the high security of the centre and many had rejected going home. So they tended to keep away from the centre even though it could provide them with lodging and food. It is suggested that the policy for street children should be reviewed with consideration given to street children's family situations and the children's own thoughts and preferences. The programs at the Centre should be enriched and training of staff should be provided.

The concrete particulars of the everyday realities of street children

The problem of street children in Namibia corresponds with that seen in other Third World countries where the economic and socioeconomic climate favours unemployment and poverty, resulting in cultural degeneration and desperate antisocial behavioural patterns. An example of this phenomenon is the growing numbers of street children who are not an integral part of a family, supportive neighbourhood or healthy surroundings. A recovery plan based on the concrete particulars of the everyday realities of these children is urgently required to reverse the situation. It demands a clear understanding of the problem within the specific context of Namibia. This article describes the general characteristics, behavioural patterns and causes of the phenomenon in order to enable the government to prevent, manage and provide an efficient service to households in Namibia so as to defuse and respond to those factors contributing to children living on the streets.

Street children in contemporary Greece

This article gives an overview of the problem of street children in Greece, within the context of global research on street children. The article draws on preliminary findings from recent research on street children in the urban centre of Athens. This is an under‐researched area, with weak policy responses to a problem associated with recent patterns of European migration (in the Greek case, chiefly from Albania). Methods used include observational research and in‐depth interviews with street children, policy actors and professionals.

The sexual and mental health problems of street children: a transcultural preventative approach in counselling psychology

Sexual and mental health problems are on the increase world-wide especially among street children. A high proportion of vulnerable children who live in the street suffer exploitation, poor quality of life that often lead to sexual and mental health problems. Evidence is needed on the theoretical perspectives taken to address the existing gaps in counselling psychology research and practice on the plight of street children. It is also important to identify interventions that could be implemented to prevent the expansion of sexual and mental health problems among street children. Because of paucity of evidence in counselling psychology, an attempt has been made to highlight the risks factors associated with street children such as sexual exploitation, engaging in unsafe sex at an early age, promiscuity, unplanned pregnancy which tend to lead to mental health problems. Case studies are presented that illustrate the importance of a preventative transcultural approach in counselling psychology.

Introduction: Homes, Places and Spaces in the Construction of Street Children and Street Youth

Children, Youth and Environments Vol 13, No.1 (Spring 2003) ISSN 1546-2250 Introduction: Homes, Places and Spaces in the Construction of Street Children and Street Youth Judith Ennew Centre for Family Research University of Cambridge Jill Swart-Kruger Department of Anthropology University of South Africa Citation: Ennew, Judith and Jill Swart-Kruger. “Introduction: Homes, Places and Spaces in the Construction of Street Children and Street Youth.” Children, Youth and Environments 13(1), Spring 2003. Street children and street youth have been the focus of intense academic interest and welfare concern for over two decades, resulting in what has been called "a prodigious outpouring of texts" (Rizzini 1996, 226). Thus it is not surprising that the papers in this special issue reflect and, in many cases refer to, a "paradigm shift" that has occurred during this period. Both the academic and field report sections in this issue demonstrate that this shift has taken place at both theoretical and practical levels. In the academic sphere, the discourse on street children has been transformed by considering the elements of time and space, as well as theories that individuals are active agents in the construction of social reality. At the level of practice, in policy and the design of programs, a major influence has been the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which establishes children as subjects of rights and active agents (van Beers 2003; O'Kane 2003; Panter-Brick 2003; and Shanahan 2003, among others in this issue). Paradigms always shift unevenly, this case in several spheres. The global recognition of a “street children problem,” which began by relying on Latin American models, has become broader. Definitions, such as the frequently used (and often misused) UNICEF distinction between children "on" and "of" the street, have been altered in view of new information. Modes of practice have been challenged by insights and experiences from other continents. Thus it is both interesting and useful that this issue contains information from Azerbaijan, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Nepal, Russia, Tajikistan and Zambia, as well as global considerations. There are now fewer attempts to describe a "typical street child" although such constructions do exist and are frequently 82 replicated with a seemingly ruthless rhetoric in the media (Rosemberg and Andrade 1999). As Ebigbo's account of child density studies in different Nigerian cities shows, it is not possible to refer meaningfully to "the Nigerian Street Child," much less to "the African Street Child" (Ebigbo 2003, this issue; Ennew 2003, this issue). One factor underlines this with particular emphasis: although attention previously focused almost exclusively on boys working and living on the street, street girls are now an increasing subject of study and concern (Rurevo and Bourdillon 2003, this issue; Hansson 2003, this issue). Explanatory frameworks have also become more sophisticated than earlier assumptions (and teleological research based on assumptions) that street children are either "throwaways" or "runaways" because of poverty and family breakdown. Such conjectures stigmatize impoverished families, blaming them for collapsing under the stress of undefined "poverty," and fail to grasp that most poor families do not break down, nor do they inevitably abandon or discard their children. As made clear with respect to child labor in a recent report from the International Labour Organization (ILO), three levels of causal analysis must be taken into account: immediate, underlying and structural (ILO 2002). At the immediate level, the reason why a child may leave home and go to work or live on the streets could be a sudden drop in family income; loss of support from an adult family member due to illness, death or abandonment; or an episode of domestic violence. Underlying causes could be chronic impoverishment; cultural expectations, such as the idea that a boy should go to work on the streets as soon as he is able; desire for consumer goods; or the "lure of bright city lights." Structural causes consist of factors such as development shocks, structural adjustment, regional inequalities and social exclusion. Current multi-level approaches to causality are underpinned by a greater understanding of childhood, which incorporates both its constructed nature and the understanding that it is experienced in different ways...

Health problems of street children and women in Awassa, Southern Ethiopia

Background: The number of street children and women in major towns of Ethiopia is rapidly increasing. Yet their problems have not been fully studied. Objective: To assess health and related problems in street children and women. Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted in Awassa town, women southern Ethiopia in December 1999. Data was collected using a uniform questionnaire. The respondents were interviewed by trained health workers in purposively selected nine data collection sites for one week. The data was processed using Epi Info version 6 statistical package computer software. Results: A total of 506 street children and women participated in the study. A considerable proportion (63.0%) of respondents had daily income of less than four birr, all women being included in this category of income, and 15% of them had an income of less than two birr. Two hundred forty one (47.6%) of the respondents reported that they have had meals as available. Two hundred seventy eight (58.0%) of the children were homeless. Two hundred eighty (55.3%) of the street children reported one or more previous health problems. Malaria-like febrile illnesses (42.6%) followed by respiratory tract illnesses (33.1%) and diarrhoeal diseases (4.5%) were the major health problems reported. The majority of them attended government health care facilities to the reported health problems. About half of the children reported that they used one or more of the habit-forming substances (alcoholic drinks, chat and cigarette). Among street children above 15 years old and women, only 22.8% used family planning and prevention methods for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The majority (55.7%) of street children and women did not know the transmission routes of STDs and HIV. A large proportion (64.5%) of the street children did not attend any kind of health education programs. Their personal hygiene is found to be very poor. Conclusion: Improving access to existing health facilities, providing them with health education and looking for possibilities to reunite the street children with their families are recommended. [Ethiop.J.Health Dev. 2002;16(2):129-137]

Health problems of street children in Eldoret, Kenya.

The street children phenomenon is an increasing problem in most cosmopolitan cities of the world including Eldoret, which is a fast growing town. With the growth of the town so is the increasing number of street children. It is therefore important to have baseline data on their health problems. To determine the health problems of street children in Eldoret. A prospective and descriptive study. Eldoret Town, Kenya. Eldoret street children aged 5-21 years. Type 1 street children were the "on" the street children who spent most of their time on the streets but went home in the evenings, type 2 were the "of" the street children who spent all their time in the streets and had severed their links with their families and did not have a home to go to, type 3 were abandoned children staying in a shelter and type 4 were normal primary school children. One hundred and ninety one children were studied. There were 38, 47, 56 and 50 types 1, 2, 3 and 4 children, respectively. The most common symptom was cough (28.9%) while frequent diagnosis was upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) (12.1%) followed by skin disease (50.9%) as the leading disease category. The common drug of addiction was cigarette (37.6%) and none of the school children was taking any drug of addiction. The prevalence of disease was 467 per 1000 children. Type 2 street children had the highest prevalence of disease (833 per 1000 children). Shelter children had the least disease prevalence (474 per 1000). Factors determining prevalence of disease were the same as in normal children. The malnutrition rate was high with 31.1% and 41.9% of the children being stunted and underweight, respectively. Type 3 children had the highest rate of malnutrition with 51.8% and 64.3% being stunted and underweight. Street children have a high incidence of childhood diseases. Factors determining occurrence of disease among street children are as in normal children. Respiratory and skin diseases were the leading causes of morbidity. Drug abuse was rampant among the street children but none of the school children abused any drug. Sexually transmitted infections were not prevalent. Most of the shelter children were malnourished. The government of Kenya should provide free health care for street children in public hospitals. Further studies should be carried out on the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases based on laboratory testing and on the causes of the injuries suffered by the street children. The reasons for the poor nutritional status of the shelter children should be analysed and appropriate measures taken.

Working with street children: reintegration through education

This article and the next strongly emphasise the need to involve children and young people in the design of the environment in which they are educated. Here, Barbara Brink focuses on the needs of the most vulnerable children in the world and brings a valuable global perspective to our discussion. She concludes that the problem of street children and children in difficult circumstances, from which no country is spared, requires cooperative work between project planners, the community and the target population.

Street children in Harare

After giving some general information about children working on the streets of Harare, the article discusses the way children live on the streets when the streets become their home. It gives some reasons for their being on the streets, describes how they organise themselves and how they earn a living, and comments on their values. The article goes on to point out that there are a variety of perspectives on where the problem of street children lies, and to outline possible lines of intervention.