Street Children

Living in constant danger

Exploitation and violence, abuse and malnutrition, no-one to care for them and no school education. Street children are defenceless. They are discriminated against and branded as criminals. Most children who live in the street have already experienced violence and negligence. Kindernothilfe supports projects in which street children can return to a well-ordered life.

Boy living in the streets in Russia. Picture: Alexandra Höner

Visible and yet invisible - it is hard to get exact figures
The expression "street children" describes three different groups of girls and boys:

Children who work in the street during the day, but live with their families.
Children who work in the street during the week and go back to their families only at the weekend because their workplace is far from their homes.
Children who have no longer contact to their families. They live and work in the street.

Approximately 80 million children belong to the last group. Many of them live in the cities of Latin America.. The youngest are only five years old. It is very difficult to collect exact figures but experts assume that the number of street children will continue to rise. This is based on the fact that more and more people are migrating from the country to cities. Soon every sixth resident of a city will be younger than eighteen.

Street children in Brasil. Picture: Christoph Engel

Fighting to survive
There are many reasons why children land on the street: The parents die, violence or abuse occurs frequently in the family, children have to do exploitive work to earn money to support the family, parents can barely feed their children.
In the street they are faced with numerous dangers. Girls and boys are forced into prostitution, raped, girls get pregnant against their will. Drugs, hunger and illnesses threaten the lives of children and young people.

What action is Kindernothilfe taking?
Projects for street children not only include places of refuge for young people for whom the street has become the centre of their lives. Kindernothilfe's partners in the field and their staff also stand up for the rights of the boys and girls. They constantly speak out against the arbitrary acts of the police and killer commandos and they draw public attention to violence and question the values and the behaviour of society.

Former street child going to school in Ethopia. Picture: Edith Gießler

Basic schooling and vocational training make up the main part of the daily work. As well as that, members of the staff help the children to work through their experiences, the injuries they suffered and the broken links with their families. Acting in plays gives the girls and boys the opportunity to have positive contact with audiences and this reduces their fear of contact with people. Open street work is a preventative measure that tries to help children who have just landed in the street. Workers of Kindernothilfe's partners explain the health risks they face in the street and try to protect them from violence and abuse.

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Annual Report 2011
Annual Report 2011 more

Annual Report