Street child is a term for a child experiencing homelessness and who primarily resides in the streets of a city (typically in a developing country). The exact definition of a street child is debatable due to the lack of precise categories. The term has largely been used in reference to children who live entirely in public spaces, without adult supervision or care. Street children are often subject to abuse, neglect, exploitation, or, in extreme cases, murder by "clean-up squads" that have been hired by local businesses or police. In Western societies, such children are commonly treated as homeless children, rather than criminals or solicitors.
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Famous quotes containing the words street and/or child:
“I marched in with the men afoot; a gallant show they made as they marched up High Street to the depot. Lucy and Mother Webb remained several hours until we left. I saw them watching me as I stood on the platform at the rear of the last car as long as they could see me. Their eyes swam. I kept my emotion under control enough not to melt into tears.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“I know no East or West, North or South, when it comes to my class fighting the battle for justice. If it is my fortune to live to see the industrial chain broken from every workingman’s child in America, and if then there is one black child in Africa in bondage, there shall I go.”
—Mother Jones (1830–1930)