Street children: prevention and support

Street children use the street as their source of livelihood or home. We work on Prevention and Support, to try and ensure that children are not exposed to exploitative situations to earn additional income.

Some reasons why children are on the street

Poverty: sometimes their families are struggling to feed them
Perception: the promise of greater economic opportunities
AIDS: orphaned children can end up on the streets 
Difficult home life: the street might appear a safer place where there is abuse at home

Examples of prevention initiatives:

Credit and saving facilities: to improve family income and security
Food security activities: to ensure reliable and adequate food supply
Family counselling on the long-term benefits of education 

Support: for children already on the streets

We work with street children to identify their needs and interests. Designing programs with street children based on their own priorities is more likely to have long-term successes.

For example, in Surabaya, Indonesia, we work with many children who earn money scavenging materials for recycling, shining shoes, selling newspapers or singing for money. Our program was designed in collaboration with the children themselves, making use of their knowledge and experience.

This approach emphasised the importance of knowing and understanding the lives of the children. This concept has been applied in the recruitment of street educators who are often children. The program improves children’s access to basic services such as education at the children's work places (so that education is not seen as a threat to family livelihood) and health facilities, and provides savings services, and recreation and play facilities.

Many children working or living on the street are highly resourceful and independent. Street children can be sceptical of adults and of what they can do for them. It is therefore necessary to work in a way that is respectful and considers the children’s own priorities; they are not necessarily a lost group waiting to be saved.

In Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, Plan's work with street children focuses on assisting them to improve their working skills, creating opportunities and choices. 

The international context

Plan ensures that the issues and interests of street children are represented globally. We work with other agencies as a member of the Consortium for Street Children, to pool resources and expertise in order to lever a greater change.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child obliges governments to protect those aged under 18 from economic exploitation, performing any hazardous work, or any work likely to interfere with a child’s education. The International Labour Organisation has also passed two Conventions on child labour to protect the rights of children:

• Convention 138: no child below the age of 15 can be employed in any economic sector
• Convention 182: dangerous or harmful employment such as prostitution, combat, mining or pornography is banned to all under 18s

Who is the typical street child?

A street child is any child that works and/or lives on the street. Often highly mobile, street children can alternate between living on the streets and living with their families. Children who work on the street may become involved in scavenging, begging, hawking, prostitution or theft to aid their basic survival. 

Some may only work on the streets during particular periods of the year, and attend school at other times. This makes it extremely difficult to estimate the total number of street children. There are, however, relatively fewer children who actually live on the street compared with those who use it as a means to earn a living.

Popular images of street children portray them as vulnerable to abuse, at risk of poor health, exploited by older children or adults, and in some cases, at risk from vigilantes. Additionally, there is a tendency to view street children as criminals, victims, or as free spirits. Whatever the reality, when working to improve the lives of street children, it is essential to work together with them to understand the reasons why they are on the streets or why they are at risk of finding themselves there.

Every child has a right to grow up in a nurturing environment where they can realise their full potential. The street, with the risks it poses, is not such an environment.

Summary

No child should be denied access to health care, education, or a supportive family environment. However, for many children, factors such as poverty or abuse may force them to live or work on the street. 

We work together with children, their families and their communities to ensure that no child is forced by circumstance to look to the street for a livelihood or for accommodation. We work directly with those children already on the street in order to ensure that they have access to basic services and the means to improve their lives.