This article looks at the means through which homeless young women are able to improve their flow of social capital by attaining a sense of belonging and forming positive attachments to supportive people and places. In so doing, they also develop relationships with health and social services and improve their overall physical and mental health…

Over the past few decades social policy in the UK and other major developed countries, has emphasised the provision of social care programmes to deal with vulnerable, deprived groups and communities. This reflects the increase in social problems such as addictions, homelessness and poverty which have occurred in that period. It also illustrates a…

Despite its constitutional obligation of ensuring universal primary education, the Indian Government has not been able to find a way to educate its 18 million street children. It is widely accepted that the government lacks the capacity--financial, managerial and human resource--to provide meaningful education to those who are left out of the…

Focus group discussions with the youth living and working in the streets of Manila as well as interviews with key informants involved in intervention programs for these youth reveal several ways by which the youth may be protected from engaging in problem behaviors in and out of the streets. Findings reveal that conditions which promote the…

Participation in sporting or recreational programs can be unattainable for many disadvantaged young people. Encouraging regular cycling is an important public health strategy to increase participation in physical activity and expand personal transport options for marginalised youth. Perceptions and attitudes toward cycling were explored in eight…

Little has been written on the personal experience of the researcher as it relates to data collection, data analysis and interpretation of results. Even more scarce has been knowledge that addresses the challenges and barriers faced by 21st century researchers engaged in ethnographic data collection amidst culturally diverse populations. The…

The aim of the article is to outline key elements of the street children subculture in Makeevka, Ukraine, with an emphasis on the functions of a subculture and its manifestations of collectivity. The research was based on qualitative and quantitative data and was conducted from 2000 to 2009. Data analysis suggests that collectivity functions on…

Street children are the most excluded group of people in any society. The general attitude towards them is to criminalise and pathologise. The "To-gather with Children Project" (TCP) has been developed by the Maltepe University Research and Application Centre for Street Children (SOYAC) in Istanbul and implemented in conjunction with the…

This article considers friendship among street children in Accra. Drawing upon the findings of a three-year qualitative research project, the article argues that friendship is a neglected element of research yet cooperation, mutuality and exchange between friends are essential to street children's survival. Living within the extremities of the…

The "Education for All policy" is one of the Indonesian government's solutions to return children who work in the street to formal schooling. Unfortunately, access to higher education, which can enable vertical mobility for these children, is constrained by many factors, including financial opportunities. This study examines the…

In this paper, we suggest that the ability and opportunity to play affords children a natural resource to meet intellectual and emotional challenge. Analysis of case studies focusing on interventions with children caught in the bombing of Beirut, children abandoned to the state system in Romania, and the street children in Rio de Janeiro and Cali…

Farhana Sheikh is co-author of "Mincemeat", a play about a World War Two intelligence operation, and its connection to the world of the homeless. In this article, she reflects on some themes of the play, in the context of the continuing British preoccupation with the war, and discusses the play's attempt to represent the upper echelons…

Children who accompany their parents or guardians during a period of homelessness make up 37% (more than one in three) of all people accessing the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) services. This paper describes an Australian qualitative study that explored the experiences of children who accompanied their families during periods…

Youth-sensitive policies are gradually gaining recognition in Africa. The release of the recent publication "Children in Ghana" by the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MOWAC) and UNICEF-Ghana attests to the value the country places on young people's perspectives. Guided by Richardson's conceptual framework on sexual citizenship,…

Homeless young women experience high levels of stress, challenges to mental health, substance use and abuse, and a lack of housing or of secure housing. This article explores one of the findings from a longitudinal qualitative study designed to follow homeless young women for a 2-year period as they make efforts to transition out of homelessness.…