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The purpose of this study was to explore children’s pathways through homelessness within the South African context, with particular attention paid to pathways out of homelessness. This study focusses on factors influencing children’s successful transitions out of homelessness.

A qualitative exploratory design was used, using interviews with nine children who had exited or were in the process of exiting homelessness. Interviews were conducted at a children’s shelter in Pietermaritzburg or in the children’s home environments. Interviews were analysed thematically.

An ecological framework was used to frame the factors influencing children’s pathways in, through and out of homelessness in the children’s narratives. These included institutions, relationships and intrapersonal strengths and resources. The study suggested that constructive relationships with shelter staff and parental figures, as well as intrapersonal strengths, were the most prominent factors in children successfully negotiating their way through their homelessness. The importance of a relationship with the paternal family within some African cultures was also a point of leverage.

Implications for policy and practise include the need for systemic change, as well as greater support for shelters and shelter staff. The issue of rivalry in the shelter context and the role of the paternal family in the reintegration process require more research attention. The research is limited to homeless children in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.

This study provided feedback to the shelter regarding their strategies for assisting homeless children off the streets. It further provided evidence for the importance of the work of the shelter, to strengthen advocacy efforts. This may be useful to others in similar circumstances.

This study highlights the importance of macrosystemic interventions in the efforts to assist homeless children, while at the same time not ignoring the inter and intra, personal elements to enhancing their well-being.

This paper is singular in its exploration of factors influencing children’s successful transitions out of homelessness within the South African context.

The purpose of this paper is to identify elements of success in the family reintegration of children with street connections who have experienced chronic violence and loss in the context of poverty. This paper outlines the application of complex trauma theory into a practice model developed by the JUCONI Foundation in Puebla, Mexico to help children and families prepare and manage reintegration.

This is a 15-month qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews with families and boys at three stages: preparing for return, in the first three months of reintegration and successfully reintegrated. The study comprises interviews with frontline workers and focus group discussions with the project team. In addition, six youths who did not return to their families were interviewed.

The study focuses on an attachment and trauma-based approach to family reintegration of street-connected children outside parental care. The findings highlight the need for careful preparation of both child and families (including siblings/extended family) prior to reunification. Preparation needs to focus on resolving the underlying problems that have led to the child being on the street and “phased” reintegration (beginning with visits to the family) is recommended. Follow-up visits/family work by staff are usually essential to ensure that child/youth and family adjust to each other. The theoretical framework and rationale behind the use of the tools and strategies described needs to be understood, so that they are used intentionally and consistently.

The study cohort involved only boys and other factors are likely to affect the reintegration of girls. The study took place in Mexico only and methods used by JUCONI need to be tested in other contexts.

The integration of children without parental care into families is an issue of critical interest, but there is currently very limited research or guidance on reintegration of children who have lived on the street, especially in low and middle income countries. The study should be of interest to practitioners interested in assessing whether safe and sustainable reintegration is possible and facilitating this. The paper may be of interest to practitioners working with children growing up without parental care who do not have “street connections”, but who have experienced chronic violence and loss.

This is the first study to describe the application of an attachment and trauma perspective to work with children who have lived on the street.

This research aims to explore childhood construction in the Afghan refugee community living in Pakistan. Young Afghan people aged 12–18 who were working on the streets participated in the generation of data for this study in 2019. Ethnographic research approaches with semi-structured in-depth interviews and field observations were used to obtain real insights. Young Afghan refugees have been a constant phenomenon on the streets for decades in the twin cities of Pakistan – Rawalpindi and Islamabad – where this research was conducted and are involved in different street-based casual activities. The findings show that young people face discrimination and exclusion from the mainstream of society due to their undefined citizenship status and poverty. Parents see their children as dependents and as assets for their old age, and children and young people need to work to support their families who live in poverty. In fulfilling their filial responsibilities, young people sacrifice their schooling and have limited opportunities to learn new skills. It is concluded that the government and other international institutions with responsibility for setting policies and creating programs for young Afghan refugees need to understand the dynamics of the families in which the young people live and how these families inculcate them with their generational values.

First of all, street economy should be accepted as an economical power by everybody, and the legislations should be arranged according to developing conditions of the country and the world. However, children under the age of 15 should not be involved in formal or informal street economy in any case. For this issue, occupations that will contribute to mental and psychological developments of children can be provided by adults and experts in vocational skill courses. Children who are oriented towards the occupation should develop their vocational education in the fields of hobby and art in Children and Youth Centers. For example, children with a hobby of music and playing should learn their hobbies in controlled courses.

Transportation planning has conventionally examined mobility from the standpoint of the efficiency of transportation systems, based on trips as units of analysis, overlooking the social needs of excluded groups, such as children. Understanding children’s geographies provides insight into one of the basic social needs of children, intrinsically related to mobility: play. Disadvantages in mobility, along with other social conditions further limit children’s autonomy in their neighbourhood. This chapter proposes the term playability as a concept that intertwines both needs. A case study of neighbourhood analyses the playability needs of children from their perspective and that of the community. Findings suggest that, in a walkable, built environment, issues from criminal activity directly influence children’s playability, even more than automobile presence. Furthermore, community perspective on playability, as mostly limited to structured play in designated spaces and time, separates mobility from play and thus limits opportunities for social inclusion. A change in both, acknowledging children’s need for play and mobility, and their reciprocity, and incorporating measures to improve it, may provide a different framework for transportation and urban planning at the local level, one that seeks greater social inclusion of children.

Drawing from ethnographic work among Haitian street youth and domestic workers, this chapter explores potential new directions for the ethnographic study of youth in difficult circumstances. In particular, it suggests that hope is a key theme in youth’s lives and that it ought to be explored ethnographically through a lens focusing on cultural practices: that is, on the ways youth actively construct their futures through engagement and agency across time and space. Focusing on the situated cultural practices of youth helps to move the discourse beyond constructs of risk and resilience toward understanding the ways in which youth use actively construct their futures through mobility, personhood, and collective identity.

What is discussed in this chapter is work-in-progress, an opportunity for reflection upon elements of an on-going research project examining the lives of street children in Accra, Ghana. Street children have received much research in recent years but our project is, we believe, distinctive in two respects. The first of these is that access to reliable data on the growing presence of children on the streets of African cities is often problematic. Available research is often diffuse and hard to access, it is more often than not driven by the short-term requirements of specific programmes and interventions and as a consequence can be lacking in depth, rigour and innovation. Without the means to provide a sufficiently self-conscious and critical engagement with accepted understandings of the lives of street children, consideration of the experience of street children in Africa continues to rely heavily on the more capacious and better disseminated research from the Americas (e.g., Mickelson, 2000). At the very least, Africa's specific experience of large population displacements, diversity of family forms, rapid urbanisation, vigorous structural adjustment and internal conflict raise important questions about the appropriateness of such ready generalisations. Judith Ennew (2003, p. 4) is clear that caution is needed in an uncritical endorsement of the “globalisation of the street child based on Latin American work”. She is equally mindful, however, that as far as Africa is concerned the absence of reliable evidence continues to hinder debate.

The purpose of this study was to gather data from orphaned learners on their lived experiences in order to gain more understanding of their educational needs. Twelve orphaned learners (aged 14‐17) from two schools in Mpumalanga Province in South Africa participated in the study. The draw‐write and narrative approach was used to elicit information from the children. The methodological, ethical and practical issues emerging from researching orphans using this approach are discussed and illustrated using examples from the study. The article demonstrates that integrating visual, written and interview data collection methods may enable vulnerable children to open up and talk about their experiences. However, it requires the researcher to be patient, sensitive and empathetic to the circumstances of such children.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into the relationship that exists between land use activities and street begging in Ibadan municipality, Nigeria, following the observed influence of urban land use activities on begging incidence.

Primary data were obtained through the method of direct enumeration of beggars and cursory observation of the physical and environmental compositions of the identified beggars’ locations in the study area.

The results showed that begging is a function of urban land use activities and it also conforms to the concentric, sector and multiple nuclei models of urban land use.

Studies are still less noticeable on the spatial implications of begging in Nigerian urban centres. In view of this, it is very much suggested that more studies be carried out on issues relating to begging, particularly, on the spatial implications of begging in other municipalities for effective comparative analysis.

The study fills a gap in the literature as there is limited research on street begging in relation to spatial dimension.

Runaway and homeless youth (RHY) are among the most vulnerable youth globally. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) states that all children have the right to the highest level of health, and that universal healthcare rights are afforded to RHY and all children. Social determinants of health (SDH) are universal factors that frame the experiences of RHY as facilitators or barriers for accessing healthcare. The purpose of this paper is to describe practical best approaches, and policy recommendations, for improving clinical care systems to make healthcare more accessible to RHY.

The authors describe and apply an adapted socio-ecological framework that includes SDH specific to RHY around the globe.

There are multiple and complex factors in the social ecology of RHY that determine their chances of accessing healthcare. While many intrapersonal reasons for homelessness are the same globally, systems of care vary by country and by developing/developed country status. Structurally competent care systems offer a new lens for how to best provide care to RHY to take into account SDH and the unique needs of RHY.

The UNCRC serves as a moral guide and frame of universal child healthcare provision for countries around the world. The authors uniquely argue for UNCRC, tailored-SDH, and care delivered in a structurally competent manner to make a moral case for both physical and mental health for all RHY.