Street children
Street children, street kids or street urchins are homeless children who live on the street – in particular, those that are not taken care of by parents or other adults. Street children live in abandoned builidings, containers, automobiles, parks, or on the street itself.
Estimates vary but one often-cited figure is that the number of children living independently in the streets totals between 100 million and 150 million worldwide.
Street children exist in many major cities, especially in the developing countries, and may be the subject of abuse, neglect, exploitation, or even in extreme cases murder by "clean up squads" hired by local businesses.
The reasons by which children abandon their homes are varied but can be summarised in a series of push and pull factors. The first include extreme poverty, severe family conflict, abuse and neglect, or parental abuse of alcohol and drugs. The pull factors include a perceived freedom in the streets, and a better way to provide for themselves. In short, the child feels he has a better opportunity in the streets than in home.
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