The reality of street children is seen as a major issue in Latin America, especially because it involves having children worry about their everyday survival. This developing problem is apparent in numerous countries all over the world; but its existence in Brazil and Latin America is mostly focused on. In order to recognize this problem, one must understand what ‘street child’ means and where they come from. The United Nations Children's Fund defines street children as kids who work on roads and public squares of cities with little to no education and healthcare (UNICEF, 2005). While this is a mere classification of street children, there are an incredible amount of ongoing influences that are connected with the term as well. These influences
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In 1980, there was a change in the Brazilian laws regarding children. The Child and Adolescent Statute became a law in 1990. This Statute turned children from minors with no rights to citizens with rights (Skelton and Allen, 218). Although this sounds like a step forward for these children, at the end of the day, they were still homeless. Ultimately, citizenship did not do much for the street children in Brazil. This, did not necessarily fail, however, it did not do much to resolve or reduce the …show more content…
This organization is called the National Movement for Street Children in Brazil. Their solution to help street children is by providing the children with a street educator. This educator acts an advocate or friend to the street children. They consist of volunteers, trained adult staff, or former street youths. Their job is to approach the street child, befriend them and work with them to resolve their immediate needs (Adorno, 1994). Their goal is to help the children find out what they want to do with their lives by discovering their personal interests. The National Movement for Street Children in Brazil is most known for being flexible and creative when making rules. These rules are based on the children’s personalities and accept them for who they are instead of making the children fit the programs. This is the contrast between this program and the FUNABEM that was previously mentioned because the FUNABEM would use coercion to make the kids follow their rules. This difference is perhaps the reason why FUNABEM did not succeed and this program
In 1980, there was a change in the Brazilian laws regarding children. The Child and Adolescent Statute became a law in 1990. This Statute turned children from minors with no rights to citizens with rights (Skelton and Allen, 218). Although this sounds like a step forward for these children, at the end of the day, they were still homeless. Ultimately, citizenship did not do much for the street children in Brazil. This, did not necessarily fail, however, it did not do much to resolve or reduce the …show more content…
This organization is called the National Movement for Street Children in Brazil. Their solution to help street children is by providing the children with a street educator. This educator acts an advocate or friend to the street children. They consist of volunteers, trained adult staff, or former street youths. Their job is to approach the street child, befriend them and work with them to resolve their immediate needs (Adorno, 1994). Their goal is to help the children find out what they want to do with their lives by discovering their personal interests. The National Movement for Street Children in Brazil is most known for being flexible and creative when making rules. These rules are based on the children’s personalities and accept them for who they are instead of making the children fit the programs. This is the contrast between this program and the FUNABEM that was previously mentioned because the FUNABEM would use coercion to make the kids follow their rules. This difference is perhaps the reason why FUNABEM did not succeed and this program