Sun.Star Baguio - Parents’ non-cooperation hampers help for street kids: social welfare

THE reluctance of parents to cooperate with agencies concerned in promoting children’s welfare is one of the reasons why the problem on street children could not fully be addressed, a social welfare official said on Tuesday.

Alvin Tanicala, officer-in-charge of the General Services Office (GSO) of the social welfare department, said the agency could not extend full assistance to families of children loitering along the city’s streets because their parents refuse to cooperate with them.

He said some families refuse to work with them, claiming they do not need the agency’s intervention in protecting the welfare of their children. He added that some parents believed that their children stay on the streets to earn a living.

‘But we believe that children should not be on the streets, that is why we want to know the root of the problem so we could introduce measures to address this. But some parents do not want to cooperate with us, saying they are fine,’ Tanicala said.

He said the number of streetchildren in the city is alarming, but the situation is not (yet) desperate.

The social welfare department last year provided assistance to some 300 streetchildren and their families. It is moving for the creation of a more concrete policy to address the problem on streetchildren, both those living in the city and those who come from other places. (JC) "

Government is losing street children - Yemen Times

SANA’A, Aug. 20 — The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor does not know how many street children are in Yemen, according to a ministry official.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MSAL) intends to conduct a number of field studies across the republic to record accurate figures for problem.

The MSAL started a training course for those working with social care houses, orphans and street children. Adel Dabwan, civil defense manager at MSAL, pointed out that these field studies will include the capital, Taiz, Aden and Al-Hodeidah as they are the most highly populated areas in Yemen and they have the most street children.

Dabwan also added that the number of social houses in these four governorates reaches 23, hinting that rural areas lack such houses and there is no intention to expand centers outside of these regions.

The number of street children in Sana’a governorate, according to a previous study conducted by MSAL, there were 15,000 children on the streets. In the mean time, this phenomenon is on increase due to the spread of poverty and more drop-outs from school.

The new field studies will be conducted by the High Council for Childhood and Motherhood and financed by the Arab Council for Childhood and Development, according to Dabwan."

Homeless youths throng Congo’s cities

KINSHASA, Congo — Colonial rule, rapacious dictatorship and civil war have so ravaged Congo’s economy and society that the streets of its cities swarm with homeless young people who numb their misery with drugs and alcohol.

Sixteen-year-old Baruti Ilanga ran away from home four years ago and now lives in the rusty brown shell of a Toyota, discarded in a cemetery-turned-garbage dump in Kinshasa. Even though there’s too many mosquitoes at night and he often goes hungry, he believes he’s better off than most of his countryman.

‘Everyone in Kinshasa is poor and hungry. At least we are happy,’ the boy shrugged, a half-empty bottle of pale yellow French Pastis beside him. ‘It is good in the street. I am free. I do what I want, when I want.’

No one knows how many children and teenagers call the streets their home in Congo. Aid workers estimate between 25,000 and 40,000 children are homeless in Kinshasa alone, and tens of thousands more are said to live in the vast Central African country’s other cities.

Next month, the U.N. Children’s Fund is holding the first census of Kinshasa’s street children since the end of Congo’s 1998-2002 war, which killed nearly 4 million people and destroyed the country’s infrastructure.

Many Kinshasa households are too poor to feed their children. Aid workers say many times only one child is fed on a given day _ a desperate solution to the problem of distributing precious food. Other households chose instead to abandon their children, some under pretexts like witchcraft or sorcery.

‘My aunt treated me very badly, she would scold me and not feed me. That’s why I came here. I feel safe here, with other children like me,’ said Esther Okudi, 14, an orphan who has lived on the street for seven years. Her current home is a wreck of a car near Baruti’s.

As evening falls on the Congolese capital, Ilanga and his friends are busy rolling marijuana between their palms. They take swigs of pastis. A group of young street girls appears.

Boys chase the girls playfully, dashing between upright car frames silhouetted against the twilight sky. But their games are hardly innocent. Aid workers say most of the girls, also abandoned children living on the street, are prostitutes.

"They earn a living through prostitution. Some are only 10 years old," said Guy Milongo, who works with a local organization to help street children. "But these children will tell you they are having a good time. There is no one to control them."

A new generation of children is being born and abandoned by destitute street parents. Without help, these newborns will probably never know the comfort of a home or family, and will spend their childhood shunned by society, sleeping on sidewalks and in garbage dumps.

Hospitals see the malnourished babies of street children every day.

"We receive lots of them. They are usually dirty and malnourished," said Annie Ndombasi, 31, a nurse at Clinic Afia in Kinshasa. "It makes me sad to see children and parents so ill."

L’Oreal Oganga, 15, gave birth to a baby in her home, a broken down car. By the time she was brought to Clinic Afia five days later, she needed antibiotics to treat an infection.

She was on a drip, barely able to speak and lying on her hospital bed. Her daughter, Brunette, squealed behind her, in the arms of the father, 19-year-old Biko Lombe, who also lives on the streets.

"I’m proud of my baby," Lombe said.

But Ndombasi said teenage fathers like Lombe often disappear.

"It is rare that the fathers help. They usually abandon the babies," said the nurse. "We don’t know if the babies survive. The mothers are too poor to afford hospital care."

Those working to help Congo’s street children say it can take years to return a child to his or her home. Parents who washed their hands of their children are rarely happy to see them at their doorstep again. And the children are hardly eager to return to families that abused or rejected them.

"It is painstaking work. Every child is different, every child must be treated with care," said Jean-Pierre Godding, who helps reintegrate street children with their families.

Godding operates a center in Kinshasa that feeds street children and sends them to school, while hunting down the family of each child and negotiating conditions for them to go home.

Dr. Almouner Talibo with Doctors of the World, an organization that provides health care to street kids, said there is only enough money "to touch the surface of the problem."

"Every day, there are more children on the street. It will take a much bigger effort, and more funding, to help them all," Talibo said.

___

On the Net:

Street Children’s Development Association, a private Kinshasa group: http://www.ajrd.populus.ch"

At Sambhaji Park, miles of smiles mark celebrations for street children

Pune, August 16:: This Janmashthmi, nine-year-old Bharat Sarju Singh, who sells balloons around MG Road and Inox, not only understood what the festival was all about, but also got a chance to actively participate in it.

For he was part of the dahihandi programme organised by the Lions Club Poona District 323D-2 at Sambhaji Park, Jangli Maharaj Road, for street children on Wednesday.

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And it was only after a rigorous five-day training, squeezed between their daily schedules of rag-picking or selling knick-knacks at traffic signals, that the 100 children were ready for the D-day.

‘‘This is the first time that we organised such a programme. The children had never had a chance to be part of such festivities so, they were very excited about it,’’ says Jayshree Mehta, district chairperson of the club’s Street Children’s Project.

The children, who hail from areas like Mal Dhakka, Shivaji Nagar and Pune Railway station were also treated with a puppet show to explain the meaning of the festival.

‘‘We are trying to create a sense of belonging among the children by holding such programmes for them. As an extension of this, we will hold similar celebrations for all major festivals,’’ adds Jayprakash Paradkar, co-ordinator, Street Children’s Project.

For Raju Vilas Jadhav, who runs errands at a shop near Pune Railway Station, the experience was one that he will cherish for years to come. ‘‘I have always seen people breaking a dahihandi, but have never been part of it. We have practised very hard for this day,’’ says the ten-year-old, visibly pleased with his face—painted blue to resemble that of the Lord Krishna."

PCF: Giving succour to street children

Pupils of Precious Childcare Foundation
during an anniversary.
Pic By DARE ALESHINLOYE

Princess Adetokunbo Abimbola is the wife of the popular Professor Wande Abimbola. Kunle OlayenI, in this piece, writes on her concen for abandoned and neglected children and how her non-governmental organisation ( NGO) is striving to end the menace through various training and programmes.

PRINCESS Adetokunbo Wande Abimbola was alarmed by the growing number of children roaming the streets, especially of Lagos, where she operates a nursery and primary school. And being a person whose job involves constant interaction with children, she knew a lot of things about them; their needs, their problems and so on.

She used to wonder how those children abandoned, neglected and orphaned as a result of various circumstances would fare on the streets, where their well-being and future were left to fate.

“Anytime you go out, you see these children carrying trays, hawking, living practically on the streets and each time I see them, I do interview them. They give me various reasons, some of which are very sad to narrate. Some of them are orphans, some of them abandoned, some of them were on the streets due to poverty.

“In some cases, their parents sent them out to go and bring money in; in fact, they had become bread winners for their parents and some are just abandoned children right from childhood. So I went through these experiences and I felt that something should be done to take care of this category of children,” she explained in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune.

Therefore, Princess Adetokunbo Wande Abimbola established a non-governmental organisation called Precious Childcare Foundation (PCF) in 1995 with the objective of educating and empowering the abandoned and neglected children as well as highlighting the social and health problems facing this group with a view to finding solutions to them.

Consequently, the foundation started organising series of awareness programmes and other sensitization activities in various states of the federation, all geared towards putting an end to the social malaise.

And on July 29, 2004, the foundation brought to limelight its first project, which was the Precious Home for street children and orphans of HIV/AIDS victims. The home is located in Alagbon, Oyo town in Oyo State. It was commissioned by the wife of the former governor of Oyo State, Alhaja Mutiat Olayinka Ladoja.

Two years after the home was declared open, the PCF received a boost from the Oyo State government. Precisely Saturday July 29, 2006 at the Aruna De Plaza Hotel in Oyo which marked the home’s second anniversary, Oyo State First Lady, Chief (Mrs.) Kemi Alao-Akala, confirmed government’s recognition of the activities of the foundation and its executive director, Princess Adetokunbo.

Represented at the occasion by the wife of the Speaker of Oyo State House of Assembly, Chief (Mrs.) Funke Atilola, the First Lady in her address stated that caring for orphans and vulnerable children requires immediate and sustained action at all levels of government.

According to her, over two million children are orphaned by AIDS in Nigeria and the rapid increase in the number of orphans is posing greater danger to the nation.

The governor’s wife commended Princess Adetokunbo and urged her not to relent in her “good job to humanity.” She donated, on behalf of the state government, mattresses, several bags of foodstuff, household items and a sum of N100,000 for the upkeep of children of the home.

Alhaja Sherifat Oyenike Amuda, Alhaja Khadijat Okunlola Oba-bi and Mrs. Funmilola Odunewu, wives of chairmen of Oyo East, Oyo West and Afijio local government areas respectively present at the ceremony, also pledged their continuous support to the foundation.

A keynote address by the Registrar of Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Dr. (Mrs.) Josephine Oyebanji, highlighted the consequences of failure to rescue the less privileged children on the society.

Delivering the address titled: “NGOs to the rescue,” Dr. Oyebanji noted that the abandoned children of today are the threats to the security of tomorrow.

“The government at the federal, state and local levels should have social welfare packages to cater for the poor. The NGOs could be assisted from such packages,” Dr. Oyebanji further urged.

The ceremony, which was attended by Professor Wande Abimbola, Professor Bade Ajuwon and Senator Adebiyi Adekeye among other dignitaries, also witnessed the dedication of vocational training tools, commissioning of a computer set and exhibition of various works of art done by children of the home.

The children also entertained the audience with beautiful cultural performances and choveography which earned them encomiums from the audience.

However, the PCF executive director pointed out hat inadequate fund has been the major constraint to the effort of the foundation.

She called on various governments, corporate bodies and endowed well-meaning individuals to assist the foundation, saying such was necessary for PCF to realise its objective.

Street kids dilemma

The practice of putting street-wise kids in foster care or children’s homes is futile and will end in rebellion, a clinical psychologist is warning Jamaica.

Dr Pearnel Bell, who practises out of tourist resort city Montego Bay in St James, also pleaded for a change of tactics to help street children rejoin mainstream society and give them a chance to live a normal childhood.

Bell suggested the establishment of multi-resource centres, designed to allow them the autonomy to make their own decisions regarding their care, saying that the practice of admittance to places of safety and/or foster care was simply "not going to cut it".

"These children find it very difficult to live in homes that often call for clear structure and boundaries in which they must operate," she said. She cited her own experience with street children who had fallen out of foster care because of their inability to adapt to such controlled environment.
"These cases are but a few of the many cases of street children placed in foster care who just could not make the transition to living in normal settings," said Bell.

She argued that the children had become accustomed to fending for themselves on the streets and making life choices without having to answer to adults. As a result, any attempt to take that away would end in rebellion.

"When they go on the streets and realise that they can make a living and become autonomous and independent, this is now where they remain on the streets. As children, they become in control and feel a sense of power in a sort of warped way," Bell, who has been practising for five years, told the Sunday Observer.
HALL… came up with the idea for multi-resource centres

"When the freedom and the independence that they acquire are taken away from them, even though they are in a better environment, it is difficult for them. (On the streets), they decide when they wake up, when they eat. All of that gives them a sense of freedom and that sort of freedom they don’t want to be taken away from them," she added.

Children’s advocate Mary Clarke agreed with Bell about the required approach to dealing with street children. Giving children the opportunity to make an input in their care is, after all, an important element of the Child Care and Protection Act, she said.

"The Child Care and Protection Act requires that, even as it defines the best interest of the child on which it is grounded," she said, noting that once the child was of "sufficient age and maturity" so as to be able to form his or her own views, then such views would be taken into account.

The 2002 National Survey of Street and Working Children estimated that the number of affected children could be as high as 6,448 at that time, with 20 per cent of them being boys. The report, prepared by Ruel Cooke of Worker Management Services Limited for the Ministry of Health, also made the distinction between "children on the street" and "children of the street".

Children on the street referred to those who work on the street but go home to sleep, while children of the street referred to those who work and live on the streets.
In Cooke’s survey, the majority of ‘children of the street’ (58.5 per cent) indicated that they wanted to return home, though less than 40 per cent of them were able, for one reason or other, to do so.

At the same time, the survey said that 19 per cent of those street children interviewed claimed to fear "no-one" and 10 per cent, "nothing".

It is against this background that the multi-resource centres - an idea of Elizabeth Hall, co-founder of the Committee for the Upliftment of the Mentally Ill (CUMI) Street People Programme in the resort city - has been deemed of particular importance.
Hall was also the first president of the Montego Bay chapter of Jamaicans For Justice, the human rights group.

Calling for the centres, Bell said their successful operation would depend on a raft of criteria, including centrality of location to allow for easy accessibility by street children. In addition, they would require:

. a staff of social workers, psychologists, counsellors and mentors;
. the inclusion of a dormitory facility to accommodate those children in need of a place to sleep; and
. the offer of meals as well as facilities of interest to children, including computer classes, karate and other sports as well as educational facilities.

At the same time, she said, the facilities would be run on a system of rules, even as those children served would get the opportunity to make their own choices.

"The centres would have certain rules, structures, boundaries. You know that this is the behaviour required, so now it is up to you to decide. The whole idea is to give them that sense of ‘I am making the choice’," she said.

In cases where children are extremely anti-social, they would have to be dealt with specifically, Bell said.
Funding should come through partnerships between public and private sector interests at the community level, where it was felt that such centres would prove most effective.

"Here in Montego Bay (for example), you have the business community and they should have a vested interest in having these children rehabilitated. It would be in the best interest of their businesses to help," she insisted. "Professionals could help too, by volunteering their services. But it would be a community effort, along with grant funding and governmental intervention."

The psychologist cautioned that the time to establish the centres was now, and failure to act would lead, inevitably, to a society in decay.

"They are children, and on the streets they are learning anti-social behaviour. They are learning to become criminals. They are learning that hard work is not important because they are learning how to beg their way through life. They are learning a range of behaviours, which, as they make their way into adulthood, is detrimental to society," said Bell.

"So you have these children on the streets who are going to translate into a society in decay. If we are having a group of children lacking the basic necessities germane to being a child, then you can imagine the kinds of problems when they get into adulthood, the problems that we are going to be facing. They need to be living normal childhoods," she added.

As if to support Bell, Cooke’s survey revealed that 35 per cent of sexually exploited children were doing it as straight "business", while 23.5 per cent were exotic dancers and 12 per cent escorts. Other services, including homosexual acts, were also "well represented", the report said, accounting for some 29 per cent of street children.

"The usual starting age for this kind of activity (sexual exploitation) is 13. The minimum starting age is nine. Their main influences for engaging in this line of activity are the attractive monetary rewards, an impossible domestic situation and the love of one’s body," it added.

There are also reported cases of street boys who become violent with motorists who refuse to have their windscreens cleaned by them for a cost.
Meanwhile, Children’s Advocate Clarke sought to give assurance that there was a sense of urgency in the formulation of a comprehensive plan to rehabilitate street children.

Stakeholders, including the CDA, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the St Andrew Care Centre, last met on July 6 to work out a mechanism.

"You have a lot of ad hoc, sporadic effort and it is not going to be easy to bring them under a comprehensive programme," Clarke said. "I am not going to rush and then what I do is ineffective."

Clarke pointed to the past when people had rushed and met with limited success, treating the symptoms rather than the source of the street children problem.

"We can keep treating the symptoms, but somewhere along the line we are going to have to treat the causes of the problem, because as soon as you take one set off the street, you have another set," she said. "We have to deal with causes and not symptoms. Children on the street is symptomatic of something else."