A Study of Problems Facing By Street children; Role of

Social Workers with street children, Special reference to

Kasaragod district
Ajmal Rasheek A H

1. Background and Rationale

“Children are one third of our population and all of our past”

Children are the most valuable resource in this world but unfortunately our
some resources are kept in street. There are many reasons behind the increasing
number of street children such as poverty, Family issues, kidnap, urge to watch city
etc. In one study of 1,000 street children living in Bombay conducted in 1990, 39.1
percent of street children said they left home because of problems and fights with
family, 20.9 percent said they left because of family poverty, and 3.6 percent said that
they wanted to see the city.

In street they were not secure they were under the risk of Human Trafficking,
drug abuse Sexual Abuse, Child Labour, Gender Discrimination, Health Problems,
Homelessness, Poverty etc. Reports says that 90% of the children who are in the street
are under the heavy threat of Drug or Substance abuse, 5500 children were starting
tobacco consumption in each day. There are lots of laws, systems, governmental and
non-governmental bodies to take care for those emerging flowers however a large
population is there only in street. According to UNICEF in India there are 11 Million
people in street.

Work with marginalized and vulnerable sections of population,

recognizes work with street children as an important area of social work practice.
There are both micro factors and macro-factors either pushing or pulling children on
to the streets, To study about their problems and analyze the socio cultural economical
and political problems faced by them as well as created by them is important factor.
Here in the study conducting in a descriptive way to find as social science discipline
which is more related with more related with Social Welfare system Social Worker’s
role with Street children
 2. INTRODUCTION

The day passes sun will come and go we will enter and out from the house
accordingly, but there is a group of people who can’t say this is my home this is my
family, we used to mark them under marginalized community. Street lives are one of
the major category among the marginalized section. Street life is great challenging
fact or situation for survival, even for the grown up and much more difficult for
children. Even though they live in the developed urban platform, they are not lucky
enough to experience the comfort that city life render.

According to UNICEF, there are three categories of street children, namely-

“children on the street”, “children of the street” and “abandoned children”. Likewise
there are many definitions for street children in India based on the focused problems.

In the era of rapid industrialization, the migration of people from rural to urban is
found the most. The large influx of those people into the urban areas has become a
problem unable to deal with which resulted in the sprouting of slums and street
children. So these children are largely an urban phenomenon.

There are over 2 million children living on the street in India. According to
UNICEF there are around 11 million people in the street. Even though there are many
laws, programs to mainstream these children still many are in the street. Working with
street children can be considered as one of the important sections to be dealt in the
area of social work practice. The problems faced by street children, living and
working condition of street children, their socio-cultural, social workers role with
street children etc. are some of the areas of study. Here the role of social worker with
street children is studied.

Social workers have to play roles with both Children on the street, children of the
street and abandoned children. Here we pointing some areas, where social workers
can enter as a profession.

STREET CHILDREN
There are several definitions for street children, widely accepted definition for
street children is Switzer land inter NGO’s definition which is quoted by UNICEF is
follows “any girl or boy who has not reached adulthood, for whom the street (in the
broadest sense of the word, including unoccupied dwellings, wasteland, etc.) has
become her or his habitual abode and/or sources of livelihood.
 Street children are those who spend their considerable part of day time in street
for food, shelter, company, togetherness or loitering around. They were mostly never
been to school or dropout. These children get in to street because of mal treatment,
abuse, family break downs, neglect, human trafficking, economic problems, etc.

3. PROBLEMS STATEMENT
Street children are also a human being like all of us, they all have urge for food,
shelter, clothes love, care, etc. but in Indian like everywhere these blossoms are living
directly under the sky and rest of them are under the tarpaulin sheet or tied flex sheets
while same country children are in the same town are in concreted two or three story
houses. The shelter is one of the major problems faced by the street children in night.
In day light they used to wander in around the city for begging, rickshaw pulling, rag-
picking, working as helper in teashop, shoes polishing, porter, selling something to
find their daily bread. Some key problems faced by the street children as follows.

Child abuse:

Child abuse is widespread a. Child abuse can be physical, emotional, verbal, or

sexual Harassment. It can also result from neglect. Abuse can result in serious injury
to the child and possibly even death. Non-accidental harming of a child by, for
example, burning, beating, or breaking bones, etc. included in physical abuse. Verbal
abuse involves harming a child by, for example, belittling them or threatening
physical or sexual acts. Emotional trauma can result from several forms of abuse
(article by psychology today)

Child slavery:

Children, who are in the street, are unaware of their right and duties as children
though there is a high risk of child slavery. People who are working in industries are
using these abandoned childes as their bounded workers by muscle power as well as
entertaining the children by giving drugs and other substances. The begging mafias
are using the street children as their slaves.

Child prostitution

Child prostitution is far from new, but it has only recently grown to become
multi-billion dollar industry with children bought, sold, and traded like other mass-
produced goods as per records there is 400000 children are in the field of prostitution.
Most of the sex workers under 16 years old are females. Sex workers focusing on the
abandoned children for their activities, nowadays reports say that there is an
increasing market for yearly teen girls in the field of prostitution. Children in the
street as well as kidnapped children were using for sex work, they couldn’t speak out
they were trapped by the mediators.

Child rape and Sexual exploitation

One in 20 million in UK are sexually abused (NDPCC UK). If this is the status of
child in a secured family what will be the situation in street. Contact and Non-contact
abuse are there under the category of sexual abuse, due to the lack of proper shelter
and care street children are under the heavy threat of sexual exploitation irrespective
of gender or age. As early mentioned these children were not aware of what they are
doing? Is this right or wrong? Etc. though they were forced to act as per the directions
of the exploiter. In most cases the victim shouldn’t come out because of fear. That's
why we have to work to break the silence around child sexual abuse, and give
children a voice when they desperately need support

Beggary:

The Indian National Human Rights Commission reports that 40,000 children are
abducted in India every year, over 25% of whom remain untraced (Save the children
web resource). Begging is one of the main way to find their daily bread, sometimes
they were forced to beg not only by the family some mediators or mafias are there.

Domestic works:

In many cases the street children were getting in to household for working by
living there, some wandering parents selling their child to wealthy people to make
sure at least their daily bread, in these cases after few days or weeks the family
members will conceder this new member as their slave.

Child labour:

Because of lack f parental care, proper guidance, education, etc. the street
children getting in to work at his or her early years of life, sometimes wandering
parents including them to work together for their life. Children who are working
under road side stalls are worse exploited by the employers, Employers made these
children to work long time in day and pay least to them, which is not sufficient to
meet their daily expenditure. A study conducted by IPER on 1991 reveals that 39.3%
working children were paid inadequately and more than one third workers
complaining about over work.( street children an area of social work intervention).
 These are only the general view about problems faced by the street children; there
are several other problems like lack of parental care, health problems, homelessness,
gender discrimination, sanitation problems, socialization problem, behavioral
problem, etc.

PROGRAM AND POLCIES FOR STREET CHILDREN

The Programmes and Policies of the Government

The Constitution of India makes certain provisions for the protection of the
rights of children. For example, Article 24 of the Constitution prohibits the
employment of children (below 14 years of age) in hazardous occupations, and
Article 45 enjoins the state to provide free and compulsory education up to 14 years
of age to all the children. However, as regards street children, there are challenges that
need to be recognised vis-à-vis the Constitution. Firstly, the Constitution is applicable
to those who can furnish their identities as Indian citizens. The question of identity for
many street children is a big problem, especially for those who are orphans or whose
families (especially homeless) themselves cannot produce any proof of identity.
Secondly, it is a well-accepted fact that most of the street children are working, and
largely so in the unorganised sector. This problem becomes more acute for those
children who are employed in illegal activities such as begging, pick-pocketing, and
drug-peddling. Another important policy that impacts street children is the National
Policy on Child Labour (1987), which seeks to not only prohibit employment of
children in hazardous occupations, but also to provide for the welfare of working
children in areas where the incidence of child labour is high. Again, the recognition of
the category of street children (most of whom are working) falls out of the purview of
the policy.

Integrated Scheme for Street Children

The objective of this programme is to prevent destitution of children and facilitate

their withdrawal from life on the streets.  The programme provides for shelter,
nutrition, health care, education, recreation facilities to street children, and seeks to
protect them against abuse and exploitation.  The strategy is to develop awareness and
provide support to build capacity of the Government, NGOs and the community at
large to realize the rights of the child enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights
of the Child (CRC) and in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act,
2000.  
Programmes Initiated by the Non-Government Organisations

In India, many interventions have been made by individual NGOs and NGO
forums, which have been working for provision of services to street children, and
fighting for their rights. These interventions can be classified into three levels: (i)
primary prevention, (ii) secondary prevention, and (iii) tertiary interventions. The
primary preventive efforts are directed towards community development. They aim at
providing assistance (help vis-à-vis educational expenses, day-care facilities for
working mothers) to economically and socially vulnerable families to prevent them
from disintegration, so that children living in absolute poverty are stopped from
entering street life. Secondary prevention involves work with ‘children of the streets’,
to prevent them from drifting into criminal activities and generating awareness about
the dangers and long-term risks of street life. The aim is to motivate children
(especially adolescents) as they mature into adulthood to leave street life. Also, there
is micro-enterprise development in this approach, as NGOs help children to secure
legal income on the street. Tertiary interventions are made for those children who
have no family contacts, through residential care institutions (shelters).

Community-based Contact Programmes

These are ‘outreach programmes’ to contact the street children in their habitat,
that is, in the areas where they live and work. The programme involves setting up of
‘contact centres’ around places that are frequented by street children and encouraging
self-referral from the children once rapport has been established with them on the
streets. There are three broad objectives of these programmes: (i) to create awareness
among street children about their life and work situation, and stimulate in them
motivation to help themselves, (ii) to enable them to have access to various basic
services like education, health care, vocational training, employment, recreation, and
counselling for their growth and development, and (iii) to enable them to improve
their self-image and self-esteem by meeting their emotional needs for love and
acceptance.

Work with Families and Communities

The work with families and communities is preventive in nature. The effort is to
prevent slum children from becoming children of the street. The intervention strategy
involves the following activities: (a) work with community leaders (predominantly
those communities which are of low socio-economic backgrounds) to generate self-
effort for upgrading the quality of life by getting more civic amenities, (b) generating
awareness with respect to the importance of education and, if possible, offering
educational sponsorships to keep children in school and within the family, (c)
provision of day-foster-care facilities for the children of working mothers, and (d)
provision of foster care for families in crisis situations, especially for children with
single-parents.
 ROLE OF SOCIAL WORKER

The social work discipline working at individual, group, community and policy
level. In street children setting social workers can perform in all stages, in individual
level caseworker, counselor, mobilizer, etc. are there, in group level social worker can
act as group worker by conducting a group of children on the street or children of the
street to met a particular goal, in community level an policy level also social worker
have to work a lot. Some of the important roles are explained below.

Advocate

The social worker can act as advocate with street children for their legal matters.
Every government has passed many laws for the rehabilitation and security of street
children. Some time social workers will work for the human right or child right in
worldwide level. In the street child care setting the main role as advocate is to ensure
the legal aids and fundamental rights to the children.

Counselor

Children in the street facing both mental and physical problems in their day to
day life, as a professional or trained person social worker can help them to cope up
with their problems through proper advice and counseling. The role of counselor is
very much important while rehabilitating sexually abused child. Mostly the
institutionalized children may don’t have any idea about their future, their possibilities
etc. there a social worker can use his potential on counseling, through he can get back
the child to a normal life. Children who ran away from home will back to their house
if the social worker played is role as counselor well with family as well as the child.

Mediator

Mediation is one of the important roles of social worker which is very

essential in every setting, in the street children care setting also its important. In this
setting social worker may have to be a bridge between child and institution or child
and family In the mediator role, the social worker intervenes in disputes between
parties to help them find compromises, reconcile differences, and reach mutually
satisfying agreements (Colorado state university website)
Researcher

In the researcher role, social worker evaluating programs and its implementation
techniques and comparing with other programs. Here the social worker analyzing the
existing programs for the street children and try to frame new programs and its
possibilities for the welfare of the children. Researcher have great role in all over the
world because the problem of street child is the part of modernization, modernization
happening everywhere so the need of rehabilitation and new projects is very high.

Manager

Street children are being institutionalized as per government as well as NGO

activities there is need of take caring and administrating those institution there will be
role for social worker instead of administrative degree holders, because this discipline
is more attached with human behaviuor and assessing their needs, social workers can
understand them more than nay administrative degree holders.

Facilitator

Social workers are involved in gathering groups of people together for a variety
of purposes including community development, self advocacy, political organization,
and policy change. Social workers are involved as group therapists and task group
leaders. (Chadron state collage website)

Community change agent

Street children as a social problem, the social workers can make intervention
in various levels. Social worker can sensitize community about street children rights
and their rehabilitation processes, Social worker can change the habit of the
community regarding the begging or street wandering children, this will help the
policy makers to create and implement program effectively.

4. OBJECTIVES

 To assess the problems and analyze the needs of street childrens.

 To find out what steps are required to provide service for street children.
  To study the programs provided for street children in India.
 To assess the correlation between problems of street children and role of social
workers.

5. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research design
Non experimental descriptive design will be used.

Study population
Street children and their families, health care and social worker of Child Protection
Services (CPS) in Kasaragod District.

Sampling technique
Convenience sampling. Census method will be adopted.

Procedure of data collection

Official permission will be obtained from the Child Protection Service (CPS) before
conducting the study. Study information sheet along with informed consent form will
distributed to each participant prior administering the questionnaire.

Tools of data collection

Self-administered questionnaire with problems and needs of street childran will be
used; the services provided by health care workers and Child line workers will be
collected. The secondary sources of information are:

Official documents such as surveys, policy statements, professional guidelines,

registers and court proceedings on street children. Unofficial materials from
government or medical institutions and private individuals, e.g. television and radio
programmes, evaluation reports on street children, books, newspapers and magazine
reports and copies of presentations at professional and community forums will be add
to the resource materials..

The study instrument for data collection consists of two parts:

Part I:
  The Modified Social Stress Model- Information related to following areas:
Background: age, gender, religion, cultural background. Substance use.
 Sexual and reproductive health.
 Physical health and injuries.
 Mental health and psychological trauma.
 Family and social. School and vocation.
 Unlawful behaviour.
 Recreational and cultural activities

Part II:
Surveys- A questionnaire will be written and used to identify which information is
needed ( e.g. knowledgeable about risks, awareness about substance use, hygiene and
reason for using substances). Investigator will modify question based on the test.
Case studies- A case study is a detailed description of one person’s or one’s group
issue. A description on how street child began experimenting with substances, became
heavy user, and stopped using the substance.
Observation- Using this method, an observer watches a specific group of street
children or a specific location while trying not to attract much attention. The person
records as many observations as possible in a field diary. The observer might record
everything he or she sees in a ‘free-flowing style,’ or he/ she may concentrate on
specific behaviours that have been decided in advance.
Study duration: Six months -May 2020 to November 2020.

6. TIME LINE OF THE STUDY:

SL ACTIVITIES 2020
NO.
May June July Augt Sept Nov

1. Preparation and submission of

synopsis to the SRB and Ethics
Committee
2. Obtaining approval from
Ethics Committee
3. Data collection

4. Coding, data entry and data

analysis
 5. Submission first draft to the
Guide

6. Publication

7. ETHICAL ISSUES

Informed consent: The street child should agree to participate. To get valid consent,
inform the child about the goals and method of the assessment, what they would gain
or lose if they participate and also that they are free to refuse to participate

Confidentiality: All assessment information should be kept confidential, unless you

have the street child’s consent to give information to others. Talk to the street child
away from peers, family and others. Their presence may compromise confidentiality.
Similarly, the confidentiality of the informants is extremely important. In some
countries, children and other informants have been murdered for providing
information.

Rapport: The process of assessment is not just the collection of information as it can
be an opportunity to engage the street child in a respectful and trusting relationship.
The assessment could provide an opportunity for street children to ask questions and
get information if they choose to do so.

Burden: Street children might have been assessed many times by health, welfare,
educational, legal and other agencies. Try not to duplicate assessments that have
already been done. Street children tend to have a short attention span, so avoid asking
too many questions (it may be useful to spread the assessment over more than one
session to make the process less demanding).

Priorities: During the assessment, you may come across conditions and/or situations
which require urgent attention, such as injuries or threat of violence. Attend to these
priority issues before dealing with substance use or sexual and reproductive health.

8. BUDGETING

9. CONCLUSION
Street children being recognized as one among the vulnerable and marginalized,
social work practice or intervention is required for these population. Child Protection
Service (CPS) is one of the agencies where social worker can work as case workers.
They can work in a more organized and structured way while dealing with the cases
than any others.

The Social Work education is composed of training in the field which help in the
dealing with street children where they can implement intervention strategies based
on both knowledge acquired from the theories and from the practical experiences.

While dealing with street children, it is important to assess their problems, analyze
their needs and find out what steps that are required to provide services to them, so
case management is necessary to assess these.

10. REFERENCE
A.K. Singh & S.P. Singh (2017), Care and Protection of Marginalized Children in
India, Serials Publications, New Delhi.

Dr. Manisha Anantrao Manjramkar (2016), Family and Child Welfare, R.P
Publications, Delhi.

Harriet Churchill (2011), Parental Rights and Responsibilities: Analysing Social

Policy and Lived Experiences, Policy Press, Bristol.

Jill Davey and Jennifer Bigmore (2009), Introducing Child Care Social Work:
Contemporary Policy and Practice, Learning Matters, Exeter.

Nick Frost and Nigel Parton (2009), Understanding Children’s Social Care, Sage
Publications, New Delhi.

https://www.savethechildren.in/resource-centre/articles/how-children-are-
forced-into-begging-by-cartels

https://www.rainn.org/articles/child-sexual-abuse

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/child-abuse-and-neglect/child-
sexual-abuse/

https://ecpat-france.fr/en/child-sexual-exploitation-in-prostitution/

https://www.ilo.org/ipec/areas/Childdomesticlabour/lang--en/index.htm