n Educare - Coping skills for street children

Abstract

The phenomenon of street children is a growing problem in South Africa. Increased teen homelessness may also have been stimulated by greater societal tolerance regarding the homeless condition and way of life in major cities. Current social services are uncoordinated and fragmented. This becomes a major impediment in efforts to help children, who have multiple needs, as is characteristic of all homeless, runaway or expelled-from-home children. Current research shows a trend toward long-term homelessness for runaway adolescents. Furthermore, the majority of these children come from dysfunctional families and are in a desperate need for positive social skills. This article addresses a programme of life skill training for street children. Peer facilitators were trained to model and facilitate new ideas on conflict management and social skills to these children.