| Family Factors
The study revealed that most children who desert their homes do so because of poverty and abuse. Most family members work in unskilled jobs and receive minimum wages. As a result most of the basic needs of children are never met. Children also do not disclose their real backgrounds to the shelters. For this reason families have no knowledge of reunification programs. This is in addition to generally not being exposed to them. As these street children become hard-core they begin to socialise with strangers, referred to as “umalume” whom they expect to play any parental roles. This umalume may not be of their culture or may have their own values and norms. The study found that the next-of-kin were often overburdened with the responsibilities of caring for their children who were not biologically theirs because of the death or desertion of the biological parents. The literature review provides evidence that the stress encountered by families in low socio-economic households is often due to overcrowding and unemployment. However families still need to remain cohessed. Cohesion plays a major role to keep the family intact.
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