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Street Children and Crime in the UK: A Case of Abuse and Neglect

NCJ Number
174371
Journal
Child Abuse Review Volume: 7 Issue: 4 Dated: July-August 1998 Pages: 241-253
Author(s)
K Browne; L Falshaw
Date Published
1998
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This article identifies the reasons why a child would prefer living on the street to living at home or in alternative residential care, describes British programs designed to serve such runaway and homeless youth, and suggests principles for counseling such youth.
Abstract
British surveys show that between 14 percent and 20 percent of children run away from home for at least one night and that 2 percent runaway from home or a care setting 10 times or more. As many as 78 percent of the youth in shelters report that physical and/or sexual abuse was the primary reason for leaving home and running away. In other studies of adolescent runaways, 73 percent of girls and 38 percent of the boys report being sexually abused, and 44 percent of runaways reported being physically abused (Stiffman, 1989). Three-quarters of adolescents who run away from home are attempting to escape and "retreat" from family conflict and violence in the home and/or significant problems at school, such as peer pressure and bullying. Life on the streets, however, places runaway and homeless youth at further risk for victimization, delinquency, and criminal behavior. This paper describes four "streetwork projects" that provide information and support to young runaways in the United Kingdom and identifies their limitations. The article proposes that counseling should be a part of intervention with street children and that trained counselors/psychotherapists should be available free to these youth who have social and emotional problems that are not typically targeted by the usual health/social service provisions. 49 references