Children’s day: Understanding and Celebrating the Homeless Children.

By Justina Kuteyi

The issue of homeless children is universal and not limited to Africa or Nigeria alone. Though there are measures being taken by developed countries to curtail or eradicate child homelessness compared to Africa. For better understanding of the topic it is important to define who a child is.
The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child regards everyone under the age of 18 as a ‘child’. Sometimes children are referred to as ‘minors’.

It is important to note that not all the homeless children we see on the street are actually happy to be there. As a mother, I can tell that children will rather be with their parents than being elsewhere. People quickly refer to these homeless children as “Osale” (ran away from home) but that is not the case of every homeless child.

Understanding a child’s background and their reasons for leaving home may also help us appreciate why they sometimes have difficulty trusting us, or reject offers of support. In these situations, children may continue to sleep from one street to another in a way that leave them exposed to risks.

Apart from being a disobedient child who willingly left home, the following factors could make a child homeless; armed conflict – such as children that have been fleeing North because of Boko Haram. Persecution of a particular social group – for example the shiite Muslims.
Escaping from abuse and violence.
Natural disasters, sexual exploitation, escaping from traffickers, forced labour or prostitution, threat of early or forced marriage. Family expectations – some children may be sent by their parents to live and work elsewhere if they think the child’s quality of life and prospects will be better. Economic aspirations – this might be when the child themselves wants better income opportunities and/or contribute to improving their family’s quality of life.
Family reunification – when children want to join one or both parents or another relative who is living in another state or country, but missed their way.

More so, the effects of homeless Children is that they are exposed to a lot of risk such as lack of money, physical hardship, bad health, hostility, stigma, discrimination, abuse, violence and various exploitation.

In order to effectively protect these innocent children from undue hardship, their must be a workable national child protection system

it important for governmental and non-governmental agencies to work together in order to provide services that are mandated and developed as part of a national child protection system to help strengthen existing – even if weak – national child protection systems.

The government must as a matter of urgency established Alternative Care for homeless Children, so that they can have a good life like every other children who live with their parents. As an individual let us try to help these homeless children in any way we can. Let us stop the general perception that they are evil or good for nothing children. A child is a child no matter his circumstances!

I celebrate all the children all over the world today especially the homeless and I say HAPPY CHILDREN’S DAY
I pray that our children will not be homeless.