A Social Profile of Street Children in Ankara

The phenomenon of street children has become a subject of interest since 1980's. This subject deserves to be popular; because it can be conceived as a failure of the modern state and it refers to a trouble in the social order.This study shows that children who work or live on streets of Ankara should be considered two separate groups as children who live with family and children who live on street. Both groups do work on street in order to contribute to family income. If the child is subjected to emotional or physical abuse and lack of love in the family, he/she might decide to live on street. Children¿s own narratives show that children who work on street do not define themselves as socially excluded in regard to inadequate access to governmental and non-governmental provisions. It was mentioned that local governments provide big amount of food aid and SHÇEK provides monetary aid in addition to that. These aids, of course, create a positive stand among street workers and their families. On the other hand, it is observed that those aids lead to laziness among parents because, they can survive with the help of provisions and without having a waged job.