A Study of Shelters for Street Children from an Organizational ...

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2.2 The Reality of Children living and/or Working on the Streets The phenomenon of children living and/or working on the streets is a social reality, a reality that imposes itself on society in a manner that demands society's response. Durkheim, (in Babbie and Mouton, 2001: 22) posited that in every society there are 'social facts' which exert influence on individuals by being or having an existence independent of the individual. In this regard, the phenomenon of children living and/or working on the streets exerts a unique survival culture on individual street child, and similarly influences mainline society to respond. It could be argued, borrowing from Durkheim's analysis, that there exists a causal relation between factors which cause families and communities to be dysfunctional and the phenomenon of children living and/or working on the streets (Babbie, and Mouton, 2001: 23). According to Babbie and Mouton (2001 :XXI) people create structures that facilitate interactions between them in this regard, the interactions between families/communities from where children come from could be the subject of analysis and from the families point of view because what is known about them is what children say (Ennew, 1994). Human interactions are based on relationships which are binding to individuals in society. Some of these relationships are based on the level of bonding between individuals. It could be argued that the external factors impacting and disrupting the bond between families and communities to the extent that they become dysfunctional need analysis, because families and communities are part of the primary agents of socialisation (Giddens, 1976; 1979; 1991). The link between children, families, communities and external factors, which weaken the bonding have to be understood within a broader context of other linked and interrelated factors, they too are influenced by other larger and powerful factors, e.g. un-employment could arise due to poor or lack of education and health of an individual on one hand, but be linked to poor performing economic activity in a country and the capacity of open, transparent and accountable governance. And this would plausibly be linked to bilateral or multilateral relations with other nations who would be trading with a particular country (htlp:/Iwww.wto.org:15/5/2003).This notion leads to concerns that social scientists endeavour to possibly decipher the interrelatedness of human relations within the global context. Wolf, (1982) and Mills, (1971) argues that human interactions and relations are interconnected. 17
To perceive human social reality as an interconnected web of inseparable social structures whereby national and international borderlines are blurred makes it difficult to determine where one ends and the other begins. The linkage would plausibly link factors that trigger the phenomenon of children living and/or working on the streets to the global dimensions. In this regard, it would be logical to highlight the multi dimensional and multinational complexity of the phenomenon. In this light, what is perceived as reality thus (children living and/or working on the streets) is derived from other deeper and far-reaching multiple and interlinked factors both local and international, and if this complexity is ignored, the true reality would be obscured or falsely represented (Fay, 1996:50-53; Wolf, 1982: 6-7). This realisation is significant for shelters because they needed to have an impact on the rising number of children living and/or working on the streets to ensure their validity of purpose and existence in the eyes of the public and society (http://www.worldbank.org/html: 30/4/2003). To understand the reality of children living and/or working on the streets within a broader context, one needs to go beyond the children's social world on the streets, be it as an individual or a group. Subsequently, it could be argued that cognisant of the interconnections within the human social interactions, shelter's intervention and reintegration programs needed to address all factors which push or pull children to living or working on the streets. It would be logical for shelters to include in their programs a dimension that could lobby and advocate for global efforts to monitor causes that influence the rising numbers of children living and working on the streets. Babbie and Mouton, (2001 :XXIII) state that social scientists construe meaning of human relationships, looking into all the variables involved in the relationships. In relation to the factors that give rise to children living and/or working on the streets intervention/reintegration programs do not seem to deal with all the factors. However there are world bodies or organisations who either deal directly or indirectly or have in their agenda, the phenomenon of children living and/or working on the streets, e.g. United Nations Children's' Fund (UNICEF) (http://www.unicef.org: 26/03/003), the World Bank (http://www.worldbank.org/html: 30/4/2003), the World Health Organisation (WHO) (http://www.who.inUsubstance_abusel: 28/04/003), the International Labour Organisation (ILO) (http://www.ilo.org: 23/4/003), etc. Most of these organisations have coordinated programs in certain different countries. This perspective gives the phenomenon a global dimension and raises the prospects of comparative studies on 18
Page 1: A Study of Shelters for Street Chil
Page 4 and 5: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I extend my sincer
Page 6: TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 0 NE 1 IN
Page 9 and 10: LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Showing the
Page 11 and 12: children's homes. In 1996 the Europ
Page 13 and 14: specifically in its policies (http:
Page 15 and 16: Hosken, (2004) in an article titled
Page 17 and 18: 1.5 The Purpose and Objective of th
Page 19 and 20: names of the shelters have been ren
Page 21 and 22: 1.8.2 Organizationalll1eory Shelter
Page 23 and 24: Chapter Four: Data analysis. The ch
Page 25: communities posing enormous challen
Page 29 and 30: Shelter's intervention/reintegratio
Page 32 and 33: 2.4 Definitions The focus of the re
Page 35: enforcement officers, outreach work
Page 40 and 41: 3.1 Introduction CHAPTER THREE RESE
Page 42 and 43: given to the demands of shelter pro
Page 44 and 45: views and perceptions over the topi
Page 46 and 47: 3.4 The Researcher in Qualitative I
Page 48 and 49: which means children there, are sta
Page 51 and 52: paid to the recording devices. The
Page 53 and 54: esearchers need to agree or disagre
Page 55 and 56: • Staff morale was high when moti
Page 57 and 58: 3.11 Ethical Considerations Babbie
Page 59 and 60: 4.1 Introduction CHAPTER FOUR OATA
Page 61 and 62: 4.2. Shelters Services and Programs
Page 63 and 64: children with their families where
Page 65 and 66: y the shelter's philosophy, goals,
Page 67 and 68: 4.2.5 Shelter Routine and Regulatio
Page 69 and 70: 4.2.6 Policy on Visitors The four s
Page 71 and 72: children played; this was done depe
Page 73 and 74: living and/or working on the street
Page 75 and 76: 4.3.1 Structure and physical locati
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Apart from management of shelters,
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Regarding transparency, accountabil
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Staff expressed that children shoul
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was immediately reassuring to child
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will to choose whether to or not li
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Sangoma (traditional doctor) and I
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Look at this shelter look at the do
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preferable. Participants continued
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It is okay when one is going with a
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5.1 Introduction CHAPTER FIVE DISCU
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The challenges of children living a
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differed greatly from the feelings
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een on the streets for a very long
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from the overseas. Some of the loca
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programs to communities and familie
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explained, was their priority. It i
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streets, consequently, shelters int
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perspectives, understanding, and ca
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understand such discourses. Through
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6.1.3 Conclusions Regarding Researc
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and appreciation that the children
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Shelters could endeavour to reinfor
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The effort is to move the children
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macroeconomic factors, the local mi
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REFERENCES Acker, A. (1986). Childr
Page 130 and 131:
Brown, D. C. (1996). 'Why ask why:
Page 132 and 133:
Gronbjen, K. A. (1992). Nonprofit H
Page 134 and 135:
Mills C. W. (1971). The Sociologica
Page 136 and 137:
Swart, J. (1987). 'Street Children:
Page 138 and 139:
Street children in http://allafrica
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3.1.5. Does the shelter have any re
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4. Social and Recreation 4.1. How a
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Follow-up questions What are the sh
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APPENDIX 3 FOCUS GROUPS CHILDREN Pl
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6. Shelter routine and Discipline:
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