The commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) has emerged as one of the world's most heinous crimes. The problem affects millions of children worldwide and no country or community is fully immune from its effects. This paper reports first generation research of the relationship that exists between CSEC and the phenomenon of missing…

Objective: To identify risk factors for poor child mental health in the southeastern Brazilian municipality of Taubate. Method: In 2001 we carried out a representative school-based survey of Brazilian schoolchildren ages 7 to 14 years (response rate, 83%). We collected extensive data on child mental health and on potential risk and protective…

Studied the social networks and daily activities of children and adolescents living or working on the streets of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Found that youngsters who lived at home and worked on the street appeared to be experiencing orderly development despite their impoverished circumstances. Youngsters who lived on the streets, however, showed…

Discusses life paths of children and their families in cities in the Philippines, India, Brazil, Kenya, and Italy, providing an analysis of the multiple, overlapping crises that lead them to distress. Their life histories illustrate their resilience, but also illustrate how the quality of their relationships to meaningful adults is being…

This publication presents a discussion of the status of poor urban children world-wide and the design of a five-nation study of the condition of distressed urban children. Following an introduction, Section 2 describes the urban child project designed to study and advance the plight of urban children in developing nations. Section 3 outlines the…