P3 : 07 Information about street children in Asia

Who are the Street Children?
Street children are young people who spend a considerable time living and/or working on the streets of the world’s cities. Different countries describe street children in different ways. However, two general categories have been frequently used to describe them:

•	children living and working in the street
•	children working on the streets who maintain regular contact with their families

Reality Situation of Street Children in Asia

•	The working street child works from 6 to 16 hours, often in a combination of “occupations”.
•	Street children usually come from large families, with six to ten children per family.
•	Street children are generally malnourished and anemic, many of them physically stunted.
•	Street children suffer psychologically from undue family pressures, abuses and neglect at home. Very often, they develop low self-esteem.
•	Street children are prone to street fights and bullying from bigger youth, harassment from policemen, suspicion and arrest for petty crimes, abuse and torture from misguided authorities.
•	Street children usually come from broken families.
•	There are more boys than girls. Female children are disadvantaged because of their sex; they do more housework and are prone to sexual abuses.
•	Parents of street children are preoccupied with earning a living, oftentimes engaged in irregular low-paying jobs as construction workers, vendors, and scavengers. http://www.childhope.org.ph/about-street-children.html