Prof. Abdullah Karatay, making evaluations within the scope of April 12 International Street Children's Day, emphasized that the data regarding children living on the streets does not fully reflect the reality, and that poverty and structural inequalities lie at the root of the problem.
Karatay stated that street children often remain an “invisible group”, saying, “Neither the cause nor the solution to the street children problem, as a ‘social problem’, is for us to help them on the streets. Comprehensive public policies are decisive for the solution.”
Prof. Abdullah Karatay from the Social Work Department of Üsküdar University, made evaluations regarding children living on the streets within the scope of April 12 International Street Children's Day.
Data regarding children living on the streets does not fully reflect the reality
Prof. Abdullah Karatay stated that the data regarding children living on the streets does not fully reflect the reality, saying, “Because there is no organization, either international or national, specifically dealing with children on the streets. The numbers are mostly project-based and taken from specific regions, so generalizing them is not appropriate. Periodically, public perception and statistics also change in parallel with the developing interest towards these children. But there is a known and unchanging truth that this phenomenon has always existed since the early industrialization period. However, while it is rarely seen in welfare societies due to the improvement of societies' economic levels, it appears much more frequently in the poor world,” he said.
These children are an invisible group
Prof. Karatay, also addressing the reasons why children living on the streets are defined as an “invisible group”, said, “These children are not a group that society highly values or places high on its list of priorities. They are more often our ‘others’ and objects of fear. Also, rather than the social dimension of the problem, the individual characteristics of the children and their visibility on the street attract more attention. The reasons why children defined as an ‘invisible group’ are on the street, the underlying pushing factors of the problem, their family stories, and the cycle of poverty are essentially ‘unseen’. We, as ordinary people, do not see this structural mechanism behind the phenomenon. We only see some children as dirty and dangerous images, and often exclude them, blaming them instead of understanding them,” he stated.
Poverty is the main determinant
Prof. Karatay, pointing out that breaking away from their natural structures (i.e., their mothers, siblings, fathers) is the hardest decision they will make, continued as follows:
“Therefore, children breaking away from their mothers, fathers, and siblings to live independently on the streets cannot be simply understood as being due to a single reason. There are multiple reasons and their history, their accumulation; it is not an instantaneous decision made out of anger. While there are many reasons, a fundamental cause can be mentioned. Poverty is a fundamental reason, for example; because poverty affects multiple factors simultaneously (health, education, crime, homelessness, etc.), produces effects through multiple mechanisms, and is a condition that stubbornly persists over time. Therefore, the fundamental mechanism that unifies the complex situation of this group of children is the poverty of the children and their families, or their ‘low socioeconomic status’. Hence, explaining the phenomenon of children living on the streets by looking only at individuals or only at family characteristics would be misleading.”
High risk of abuse!
Prof. Karatay, drawing attention to the fact that children living on the streets are vulnerable to all kinds of abuse, said, “Because a street child is removed from all kinds of protection, children are also at risk of all types of abuse. Sexual abuse, violence, forced labor, involvement in illegal activities, and substance abuse can be considered the foremost abuse risks. Since the child is not yet in ‘adult’ status, they are essentially a victim. They do not have full responsibility for the crimes they commit or are coerced into committing; since they are still in a period of development and thus in need of protection, the ‘system’ is responsible to a certain extent in all circumstances. The ‘system’ cannot escape direct or indirect responsibility due to the negative conditions the child enters until they become an adult,” he stated.
Individual aid is not the solution
Prof. Karatay stated that society's biggest misconception is seeing the problem as limited only to children and their families, “Our biggest misconception as a society is to think that the problem of street children is a situation limited to ‘the children themselves, their families, and the street’; we fail to see the mechanism, the system behind it. Neither the cause nor the solution to the street children problem, as a ‘social problem’, is for us to help them on the streets. Our helping relationship with people on the streets is entirely a matter of individual conscience. It will not have an effect large enough to deepen the problem or determine its structural situation. People who want to help can do so without creating risk for themselves; but they should know that a few acts of aid to a few children on the street will not solve this problem. We, as charitable individuals, neither created this problem nor can we solve it. Calling the public to responsibility, demanding action, creating public opinion, and being a pressure factor on the public will perhaps be much more effective than the few pennies of aid we provide,” he said.
Prof. Karatay underlined that the problem of street children can only be solved through comprehensive and public policies.
