Street children are defined as, "those for whom the street more than their real family has become their real home, a situation in which there is no protection, supervision or direction from responsible adults" (Ennew, 1994, p. 15). The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the perception of self-competence and social acceptance of street children in India. Twenty-six street children ranging in age from 5-9 years participated in the study. The children attended an educational training program at the Salaam Baalak Trust in Mumbai, India. The children's social-emotional competence and perception of self-competence was measured using the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance (Harter & Pike, 1984). Descriptive analysis of each of the subscales of the test demonstrated that the children had high perception of self-competence in three of the four subscales. The results showed that the perception of self-competence of street children is high. This finding is very positive, given the circumstances in which these children live and the uncertainty of their future. Their strong sense of self raises the question of what really influences perception of self-competence.