A street child is a child who lives on the streets of a city, deprived of a family care and protection. Most children on the streets are between the age of about 5 and 17 years old, and their population between different cities is varied.
"Street children" is increasingly recognized by sociologists and anthropologists to be a socially-constructed category that does not actually form a clearly-defined, homogeneous population, or phenomenon (Glauser, 1990; Ennew, 2000; Moura, 2002). "Street children" covers children in such a wide variety of circumstances and with a wide variety of characteristics that policymakers and service providers find it difficult to describe and target such a sub-population. Individual girls and boys of all ages are found living and working in public spaces, and visible in the great majority of the world’s urban centers.
The definition of "street children" is contested, but many practitioners and policymakers use UNICEF’s concept of boys and girls, aged under eighteen years, for whom "the street" (including unoccupied dwellings and wasteland) has become home and/or their source of livelihood, and who are inadequately protected or supervised.
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.