Reducing the Incidence of ‘Streetchildren’

COMMUNITY AND HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY

PYC4811 - ASSIGNMENT 02

UNIQUE NUMBER 657832

REDUCING THE INCIDENCE OF ‘STREETCHILDREN’

STUDENT 31214002

PYC4805 – Assignment 04 – Adulthood – Student nr 31214002

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

I am sure most people would agree no one should have to live on the street, especially

children, yet poverty, combined with neglect, abuse or drug addiction leads to children feeling

they’d be better off on the street. Although I could find no statistics for children living on the

street specific to provinces within South Africa UNICEF (2010), estimated 13 000 plus

children stay in registered child and youth centres nationwide most weeks. While South

Africa has an impressive bill of rights for children, too many children lack access to basic

necessities and rights.

THE COMMUNITY

The community I am studying in reality involves three interconnected and overlapping

communities –the street children, refugees from the second community, their own

neighbourhoods and homes. Finally the surrounding wealthier suburbs which promising no

authority, an escape from the misery at home and easy money for these children. The

inhabitants of these wealthier communities eye these children with suspicion; fear; pity and a

sense of helplessness.

The phenomena of street children has been created through the socio political contexts of

apartheid, poverty, HIV/AIDS and migration from rural to urban areas in search of work

resulting in fractured families, missing generations and a large group of children vulnerable to

neglect and abuse. As a result of apartheids historical advantage given socially to white

families, by and large street children within South Africa are black or ‘coloured’ and come

from specific lower socio-economic areas. Within this group of children, there are

subgroups, those who spend their days on the street but go home at night; or occasionally,

while others live and sleep on the...