Street children

"The term street children refer to children for whom the street more than their family has become their real home. It includes children who might not necessarily be homeless or without families, but who live in situations where there is no protection, supervision, or direction from responsible adults. " - Human Rights Watch

The number of children living independently in the streets totals between 100 million and 150 million worldwide, and it is forecasted that - by 2020 – the number will increase to 800 million. As we can see, the problem of growing number of street children is very important. Of course, there are a lot of organizations, charity funds or other institutions, which pay attention to this problem, but it is still hard to solve it. One of the biggest worldwide organization is UNICEF. The United Nations Children's Fund - UNICEF - works for children's rights, their survival, development and protection.

UNICEF defines street children into two main categories:

1. Children on the street are those engaged in some kind of economic activity ranging from begging to vending. Because of the economic fragility of the family, these children may eventually opt for a permanent life on the streets.
   
2. Children of the street actually live on the street (or outside of a normal family environment). Family ties may exist but are tenuous and are maintained only casually or occasionally.

Also, UNICEF has defined three types of street children:

1. Street Living Children: children who ran away from their families and live alone on the streets.
2. Street Working Children: children who spend most of their time on the streets, fending for themselves, but returning home on a regular basis.
3. Children from Street Families: children who live on the streets with their families.

There are a lot of problems in the street. For example, poverty, lack of education, AIDS, prostitution, all kinds of abuse, drugs, alcohol and etc. About 50% of girls and 30% of boys tried to commit a suicide or 81 % of street children used any form of drugs , in Lithuania. It shows that street children are the weakest part of our society and we must do everything to make their life easier.