Say Yes, Spring 2005: A Protection Issue

Lila Pieters,
Programme Coordinator, UNICEF Turkey

In the 1980s, UNICEF suggested a distinction between children on the streets and of the streets -- because the situation of a child in either of the these two groups would be significantly different.

Children on the streets are those whose family support base has become weakened to the point where they must share the responsibility of the family for survival by working in city streets and market-places. For these children, the home ceases to be their centre of play, of culture and of daily life. Nevertheless while the street becomes part of their life, most of these children do go home in the evening. Their family relationship may have deteriorated, but they still have a place to sleep and these children continue to view life from the perspective of their families.

Children of the street are a much smaller number of children, though still numerous, who struggle daily to survive without family support. Often referred to as abandoned, they might themselves have abandoned their families, tired of insecurity and rejection and prematurely aged by violence. Their home-ties are often de facto broken.

In my opinion it is better to think of children gradually abandoning or breaking away from their families. This could be for many reasons that vary from one individual to another and, it is fair to say, do not tally with the negative images that are maintained by the general public and that are too often upheld by the media. The children of socially excluded groups such as migrant workers, families living below the poverty line and one-parent families are certainly closer to the profile.

For UNICEF Turkey, the primary response to prevent children going on the streets is through education -- sending them to school and keeping them there. Institutionalisation should only be considered as a last resort. Parents need to be educated about available financial support that would obviate the need for their children to work. Guidance and counselling should be provided to help resolve inter-familial conflicts and issues.

It has taken a long time to realise that in order to provide care and protection for children living and working on the streets we need a very different approach. We need to understand the profiles of the families -- often the focus has been put on the child and very little work has been done on the family.

We have all the necessary ingredients in Turkey. For some time now, UNICEF has been supporting MONE, the Ministry of Health and SHÇEK in reaching the parents through the Family and Child Training programme (FACT). One of our recommendations is that the FACT target group of families with children under eight years should be expanded to include all children -- right up to eighteen years old. The parents themselves have been suggesting this.

For the children themselves, a specific programme of ‘catch-up’ education is needed to allow those who have never attended, or who have dropped out, to get back to school. So, education is very much a re-integration response as well as a preventative response.

Bürge Hayran,
Assistant Child Protection Officer, UNICEF Turkey

The issue of street children is not new to Turkey although the problem is growing faster than ever before. It has gained more adverse publicity recently with the media focus on street crime -- where a relatively small proportion of these children have been involved.

Both governmental and non-governmental organisations are currently seeking to address the issue on a multi-sectoral basis. UNICEF will provide technical support and monitoring in terms of implementing various models such as the new SHÇEK service model as well as measures envisaged in the report of the Parliamentary Commission on Street Children.

It is vitally important to change the public perception of these children, emphasising the fact that they are under threat rather than posing any threat -- no child freely chooses to live on or of the streets.

The aim is to find the causes of this phenomenon and attempt to bring the children back into a family environment and schools. Preventive measures and a family-centred approach form the basis of the Parliamentary Commission’s conclusions.

People tend to think that the placing of children in institutions where they are fed and sheltered is the answer but this approach can actually make matters worse.

UNICEF focuses on re-uniting children with their families or care-givers whenever possible. Very few children are living on or of the streets because they are orphans -- domestic problems are the usual cause. We should have data profiles that show from where and what types of families the children come, how many just work on the streets, how many actually live there and so on. There won’t be a single strategy to effectively solve every child’s problems but relevant strategies can be ‘tailored’ with this system. For example, a child who has been on the streets for a relatively short period of a few months could probably be re-integrated to his or her family through mediation. Whereas a child who has been on the streets for a year or more could be placed with a foster-family.

The child could also be re-introduced to the education system at this point. In view of this, MONE and UNICEF are jointly planning the complementary ‘catch-up’ education programme. This will provide children who have missed out or dropped out of school with the opportunity to get back into the education system.

Besides reaching street children, UNICEF also strongly recommends preventive measures. Complementary, family-centred education programmes may be developed in this context so that children can be reached more easily before they take to the streets. Guidance teachers would have an important role in reaching children at risk or in problematic environments. So the capacity of guidance teachers and educationalists needs to be further enhanced.

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