All My Children

The Cotonou Seminar pointed out that ‘among the reasons most often heard from street children, that of the family was the most common to explain their departure from home‘. The immediate causes given by the Philippines on why there are street children all have to do with the family. Vanistendael also said the same: ‘the immediate cause is nearly always a dysfunctioning in the family‘. ‘The reasons why children take to the streets are complex and manifold. Broadly speaking, a distinction can be drawn between the push and pull factors. Poverty, unemployment, overcrowding, child abuse, family disintegration, alcohol abuse by parents, failure at school, the collapse of alternative care facilities and family violence are examples of push factors, while the desire to earn money, to contribute to the family income and to roam the streets can be seen as pull factors … It appears that the decision to bid the parental home farewell and to make the street their new home is made only when there are problematic child-parent relations, domestic circumstances are untenable for the child, the street is seen as an opportunity for a better life, and the child is able to handle practical problems such as transport.’

Over the last 25 years or so, traditional African family life has undergone numerous changes. Many parents today grew up within the context of the ‘extended family‘ where apart from parents, there were grandparents and relatives to provide the necessary psychological support to young people growing up. Today, on account of urbanisation, the traditional extended family is giving place more and more to the nuclear family. As a result, a new set of problems has emerged and there are no structures or `mechanisms’ to deal with them. Furthermore, children tend to become the first victims of these new circumstances, and the streets provide them with a haven to find refuge in.

The following list of family factors is not the result of any sociological survey in South Africa, but rather the fruit of my own research (reading and discussions) as well as my own personal experience over the last 25 years in working in an African situation:

• The lack of a father-figure: Linda Richter° writes that ‘only about 58% of black women over the age of 18 years have ever been married and, depending on the area, between 20% and 60% of black households are single parent female-headed. Even when men and women are married, housing shortages and migrant labour prevent about a third of them from living together. As a corollary, men and women sometimes live together for varying lengths of time, perhaps having one or more children together, without ever getting married. Whether men and women live together or not, it is not always possible for them to have their children with them, mainly for reasons of lack of accommodation and child care. For example, it was estimated that nearly 20% of children under the age of 15 years lived apart from their parents.’ From the above, it is obvious that many boys grow up without a much-needed father-figure to identify with within their own homes. As a result, when unable to find someone to imitate in their own environment, some boys will not hesitate to move out of their home in search of a father-figure elsewhere.

• Divorce of parents: Divorce is on the increase and following their parents‘ divorce, many children opt for the street because they can no longer cope with their family situation. They need a father to identify with. Female single parents often do not realise how important it is for their sons to have such a father-figure. They tend to think that if their brothers were able to grow up without a father or with a father working away from home, their sons should also cope. The problem is they forget that, in the old extended family, there were other men (uncles, grandfathers) who provided the father-figure their brothers needed. This is no longer the case with nuclear families today. As a result, the boys go to the streets in search of a father-figure and often group (gang) leaders provide this male figure to young ones.

• Stepfather or stepmother: Often, following a divorce, a boy will want to stay with his father but the stepmother will not accept him for all kinds of reasons or excuses: the boy eats too much, he is not well behaved, he steals, he is not cooperative, he does not look like the father, etc. If the boy stays with his mother, the stepfather may refuse to feel responsible for him because he is not his own blood. At times the boy will refuse to take the surname of the stepfather, who will then refuse to look after the child. At other times, the stepfather will say that it is the job of the mother to look after him and that the biological father has the duty of supporting him financially and educationally. The extended family is not there to help find a solution.

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