Is Institutionalization of Street Children the Best Option?

In August 2009, the Government of Sri Lanka announced a program on rehabilitating street children by institutionalizing all the children of the streets. Recent study carried out by Save the Children on Children on the Move in Hambantota District clearly pointed out that children are against being institutionalized. They want to live with their family.

Why should we work on protecting rights of street children?

A child take onto streets as he or she has no other option. Street children are one of the most vulnerable and oppressed segments of the society. It is the fault of the social system that had made the child so vulnerable. Street children are the most visible result of the increasing gap between the rich and the poor both in the North and the South. (Beers, V.H. 1996)

The vulnerabilities and problems experienced by street children are immense. These include separation from family, homelessness, lack of identification papers, lack of education, poverty, exploitation, the worst forms of labour, abuse, health issues, coercion, control by adult gangs and conflict with the law.

Who are Street Children?

A street child is defined as “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, and who is inadequately protected, supervised or directed by responsible adults” by the Inter NGO Programme for Street Children and Street Youth. (Inter-NGO, 1985).