Summary
Contents
Globally, street-living children are the most fluid population of vulnerable children. They are conspicuous yet subsist on the fringes of the marginalized. This book attempts to sketch a holistic picture of the street child phenomenon across the globe.
The book incorporates empirical data from a cross-cultural study of this phenomenon in three mega cities—Mumbai, Nairobi, and Los Angeles—and some of the best practices developed by faith-based and secular organizations to help street-living children. These data include global estimates, analysis of the causative factors, occupations of these children, as also the resulting problems. The book also gives new insights into the impact of state policies to support secular and faith-based organizations, and the way social service is practiced by such organizations in India, Kenya, and USA.
The authors take the readers through the social construction of the street child phenomenon over the years by weaving socio-political, cultural, and historical perspectives in understanding the circumstances surrounding them.
Similarities and Diversities: Services for Street Living Children across the Three Cities
Similarities and Diversities: Services for Street Living Children across the Three Cities
The three megacities of Los Angeles, Mumbai and Nairobi, which form the spatial coordinates of this study, are situated in different parts of the world. Each of them has a character of its own which makes it different from the others. However, notwithstanding the transcontinental spatial difference, there are aspects that bind the three cities together. One of the many commonalities that these three cities share is the large population of street living children and youth that receive services from a variety of faith based and secular organizations. The universal presence of the street children phenomenon intrigued the curiosity of the researchers ...