The Vulnerability and Resilience of Street Children

This colloquium discusses the importance, when assessing resilience, of understanding the context of the street child’s home life before they start the transitional period of moving to the street. It will suggest that the presumption in the literature that street children are somehow different and less vulnerable than home children is not empirically or theoretically justified. It does this by reviewing the academic literature available on the topic of street children and resilience. It is important that this discussion takes place for reasons that range from understanding the correct support street children need in different stages of their move to the street, to realising that if it is in fact the case that children who migrate to the street are more resilient than those who stay at home, then greater support is needed for the children who do not make this move. Resiliency is ‘the capacity of individuals to face up to an adverse event, withstand considerable hardship, and not only overcome it but also be made stronger by it’ (Sondhi-Garg, 2004, p. 70). There is perhaps no better place to observe children’s resilience than on the street; what Conticini & Hulme call a ‘display’ of coping strategies (2007). Swart-Kruger points out that contrary to popular belief, street children are not necessarily society’s drop-outs, and that ‘they should be recognised for the exceptional fortitude, creativity, and astute knowledge of human nature that they must possess to survive on the street’(1988, p. 71). The research on street children, despite the range of geo-cultural settings, shows that being

Computer security · Media studies · Psychological resilience · Resilience (materials science · Sociology · Vulnerability (computing · Children's Rights and Participation · Computer Science · Homelessness and Social Issues · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Psychology · Social Psychology

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• Introduction

  Judith Ennew, Jill Swart-Kruger•Children Youth and Environments•2003

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• Street children in Egypt

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