Making a Difference for Children: Street Children

We are not a danger -- we are in danger!

Although most street children are not orphans, their family links are often the reason they are on the street, working to supplement the household income or running away -- trying hard to break those links. All the same, these children are ‘orphans’ of the street in that they are estranged from the society in the midst of which they scrape a living -- they are often prone to drug abuse and delinquency. Within the framework of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) these children are described as children in need of special protection measures.

The largest ever global generation of children will be born this decade and, this year alone, 1.5 million of those newborns will be Turkish children. A certain number of those children will be born into unworkable home situations where poverty and overcrowding, physical or mental abuse might be the cause. At any rate, in their efforts to adapt, many of them will add to the rapidly growing number of children living and working on the streets of Turkish cities.

The Situation

• Numbers of children living and/or working on the streets of Turkish cities have visibly increased in recent years.
• Many children who live at home are forced by their parents to work on the streets in order to supplement household income.
• Some who come from abusive families seek refuge on the streets.
• Unable to apply themselves to study or even to attend school, many of these children have dropped out of the educational system and grow up with little hope of gaining appropriate training or certification for a skilled job.
• While on the streets, many of these children are subject to maltreatment, physical and/or sexual abuse, disease, malnutrition and substance abuse.

The Action

• Provide a safe environment for street children and equip them with the skills to help them re-integrate into society.
• Advocate for provision of safe and supportive environments for children with different needs such as sexually abused children, those using volatile substances, children working on the streets, runaways and abandoned children for example.
• Support measures which will address the root cause of children living or working on the street.
• Develop partnerships with Government agencies and the private and public sectors in order to mobilise resources and meet the educational and training needs of street children.
• Organise and support training workshops for concerned personnel such as the police, the gendarmerie, social workers, psychologists and so forth.

The Difference

• Numbers of children living and working on the street will be reduced through the provision of safe, sheltered environments.
• Incidence of drop-outs from the school system will be reduced.
• Incidence of child labour will be reduced.
• Incidence of child crime and crimes involving children will be decreased.
• Incidence of physical and sexual exploitation of children will decrease.
• Incidence of disease -- sexually transmitted or otherwise -- will be reduced.
• Street children will be provided with basic education, socialisation and vocational training to help them re-integrate.
• Since the development of a long term solution to the problem of street children ultimately lies with the State, such a solution will have a profoundly positive, wide-ranging effect on society as a whole.

Use the ‘Support Us’ link at the foot of this page to make an online tax-free donation to the Turkish National Committee for UNICEF now. Alternatively, you can make a credit transfer through your bank to Türkiye İş Bankası, Çankaya Branch, Ankara, Branch No. 4238, Account No. 500.

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