Social Sciences and Humanities Open (Jan 2021)
A false start: Children of the Street's journey into the Charitable Children Institutions and its policy implications
Abstract
Background: Globally, the street children phenomena have grown though disproportionately in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific countries. Studies have examined the factors that drive children to the streets, rehabilitation in the charitable children Institutions (CCI); however, little attention has been accorded to the journey from the streets to the CCIs. Objective: This study, sought to trace the pathways of street children into the CCIs and its policy implications. Specifically, the study sought to Map the pathways that the street children go through into the CCIs, Examine the process of identification of the needs of the street children during entry into the CCIs and explore the Policy implications of the journey into the CCIs. The study was guided by Lundy's Model of Participation. Participants and Setting: The study was conducted in Nakuru County, Kenya targeting institutionalized ex children of the streets, managers of the institutions, police, county officials in charge of children affairs and children who ran back to the streets from the CCIs. Methods: The data for the study was collected through questionnaires (205) in-depth interviews (16), Key informant Interviews (5) and 2 Focused Group Discussions (FGDs). The data was then analyzed both descriptively and thematically. Results: The street children are commonly arrested concocted as rounding up from the streets to the CCIs by the police, CCI staff and County Council Askaris (security agents) in total disregard to the right to participation. Secondly, majority (62.93%) of the institutionalized children individually identified their needs, 10.24% identified their needs with some help while 26.83% had their needs identified by CCI staff. This is not only a false beginning, but is also in violation of existing national children policy and legal frameworks. Conclusions: This study demonstrates lack of full implementation of existing policies and proposes development of targeted policy for children of the streets.
