Living on the Streets: The Street Children of Brazil

The existence of street children is most often viewed as a significant problem, stripping youth of their humanity and burdening them with the everyday concern of survival. It is easy to analyze this complicated issue objectively, yet the actual experiences of the children are just as easily lost. It is therefore necessary to approach the subject with the inclusion of contextual information regarding the problem. Statistical evidence provides only a narrow view of the problem. Through a combination of both numbers and context, the many problems contributing to their existence can be addressed. This growing issue is evident in many countries throughout the world; however, its presence in Brazil and Latin America is the most studied. Poverty, the work force, substance abuse, and general homelessness in Brazil are just a few of the many influences that affect the lives of street children. In addressing these effects, this paper questions how the topic of street children is an outgrowth of its surroundings. Furthermore, recent research has been focused on providing grass-roots solutions to the problem; thus, the remainder of the analysis centers on the new directions being taken in addressing this large-scale issue.

To begin with, one must understand the term ‘street children’ itself. Who are they? UNICEF defines them as “children who live in the streets. The street is their home” (Fernandes & Vaughn, 2008, p.670). While this definition seems mundane and simple, there are numerous ongoing factors that compose it. The crux and most-contributing context to this problem is the issue of poverty. Other influences upon street children cannot be understood aside from it, and it is continually addressed throughout this analysis. For instance, the lack of both education and job opportunities is an outgrowth of poverty within Brazilian society. The nation’s wealthiest 20 percent of the population has access to over 65 percent of the entire country’s wealth. More than 45 million people are living in poverty, with 32 million children living in families that make less than $40 US dollars per month. It is easy to be unbothered by statistical evidence, but the existence of street children is a living result of Brazil’s numerous socioeconomic issues. “Poverty is one of the reasons that lead children to the street. The process of children going to the streets to work in legal or illegal businesses to supplement family income contributes in part to the later phenomenon of street children: children on the street become children of the street” (Fernandes &Vaughn, 2008, p.671-2). But where does this distinction lie?

The conceptual difference between children of the street and children on the street was determined in a 1989 meeting on the issue. Children of the street were described as youth under the age of 18 living in urban areas and who call the street their principal home, assuming they no longer live in their familial residence. The street is the central environment from which they develop and obtain social skills. Children on the street, however, are children under the age of 18 who maintain stronger family ties, yet continue to spend the majority of their time in the streets. They work and engage in activities to ensure their survival, their families’, or even that of a third party. For the purposes of this paper, both types will be continually referred to as street children. This is the simplest way to explore the other surrounding factors that contribute to any type of life on street.

Street children can be best understood as a product of their context and socialization, and this includes aspects of their familial and socioeconomic background. In looking at Brazilian society, the structure and role of the family plays an integral part in the socialization and development of children. In each culture, the family maintains a certain responsibility toward the minimal requirements for their offspring’s survival. Research on contemporary Brazilian families reveals that a nuclear family structure is the most common type, a result of a population and industrialization boom that led to the “formation of an urban proletariat” (Mickelson, 2000, p.44). On a socioeconomic level, this urban class was faced with overpopulation, housing shortages, and a lack of many other basic amenities. Such factors allowed the development of households in favelas, otherwise known as slum areas, that are located on the outskirts of major cites.

Migrants to these areas were confident they would find more employment opportunities as well as an overall better future for themselves. However, “more than 50 percent of favelados (people living in favelas) are unemployed and do not have medical assistance or unemployment benefits” (Fernandes &Vaughn, 2008, p.672). Inflation and ongoing economic problems continue to present difficulties for families to live decently, with the head of the family working excess hours and other family members entering the labor force to ensure better income. Often this is seen in the joining of the informal economy, such as vending on the street, to make any earnings possible to support the family. These conditions threaten the overall organization and stability of Brazilian families, as well as the socialization of their children. In the process of a child’s development, “families are expected to instill in children their society’s basic values, attitudes, and modes of behavior” (Boocock & Scott, 2005, p. 74). This harsh economic condition is the world many Brazilian children are born into, an urban culture based on pressure and the basic need for survival. This environment has caused difficulty for families to properly socialize their children, and also has prevented the development of values outside those of subsistence.

Additional family members, as previously mentioned, are often forced to join the labor force in the interest of their family’s survival. This is noted by a rise in women workers, but also by the increasing numbers of children and adolescents in the Brazilian work force. “A 1995 survey of households reported that almost 5 million children between the ages of 10 and 14 were working…the percentage of youth in the labor force varies with the families’ socioeconomic status; for example, the rate of children’s economic activity declines as family income rises” (Mickelson, 2000, p.47). This child labor force is therefore widely dominated by poorer children. The issue of unemployment and lack of jobs contributes to widespread informal economic activities that include vending and shoe-shining, but also the illicit businesses of prostitution and drug sales. Children have become a workforce commodity, and the street serves as an attractive workplace to gain extra income for the family. Urbanization has caused the development of child labor to thus evolve from a family agriculture business to industrial and illegal work within the street’s informal economy.

In addition to the influence of family, school is the other means by which children become socialized and aware of their particular culture and values. Although illiteracy in Brazil has been decreasing, the rising number of child laborers has the potential to hurt the educational system. Out of a total 522,185 child workers aged 5 to 9, 78 percent of them are also enrolled and going to school. This statistic alone is evidence of how the child labor force must severely affect the children’s ability to learn. Increased fatigue, the large quantity of work, and the overall detrimental effect on mental health are probable in the circumstance of balancing school and work. In addition to these factors, the quality of the education they are receiving is also questionable. Schools are supported through tax revenues by the federal government as well as the states, but often “function ineffectively because of poor financial management and frequent strikes by severely underpaid public school teachers” (Mickelson, 2000, p.48). It is also difficult for schools to keep pace with the rapid overpopulation and urban growth that has occurred in recent years. The educational system struggles to effectively socialize children due to its outdated schools, lack of seats for enrollment, and the abundance of strikes by teachers. Less than 6 percent of the adults in Brazilian families have completed 15 or more years of school (to the college level). The need for income as well as the toll of labor upon the body place great stress on one’s educational ability. Subsistence simply dominates the possibility of education.

Another aspect that schools lack in regards to the socialization of children is their inability to build upon the body of knowledge gained outside of school. Research by Terezinha Carraher in 1991 found that schools fail to take advantage of “the knowledge and rationale of the students so as to expand it; schools are aware of the skills that children of the lower classes must have if they are to survive in big cities” (Mickelson, 2000, p.48). This type of knowledge may be referred to as “street smart” and is rarely emphasized in school. It is the difficulty of switching from the oral expression of the street to the written expression of the classroom that is the root of the problem. Teachers do not structure their curriculum around these “street” learning experiences and thus many students are not given opportunities to excel.

Socioeconomic influences greatly contribute to the forced situation street children often find themselves in. Poverty also could have led to increased stresses in their former homes, which is sometimes manifested in the form of abuse. Abandonment, neglect, and abuse therefore are also considered as heavily determinants of this issue. The parents often socialize their children based upon their own experience. “Generally, children’s parents also suffered abuse and neglect from their own parents. Parents of street children repeat the same behavior with their own children, which contributes to the children choosing the street as their home” (Fernandes & Vaughn, 2008, p. 673). This abuse also can take many forms, whether psychological, emotional, or sexual. Recent research exploring this type of violence toward street children has found that 23 percent of street children reported abuse as their reason for leaving home. This past of abuse is subsequently engrained within the child and is therefore translated to their behavior on the streets. This behavior often manifests in some form of aggression, which has led to the association of street children with violence and immoral activities.