ASSESSMENT OF THE CAUSES OF CHILD MIGRATION ANDTHEIR CHALLENGES, THE CASE OF HAWASSA, SNNPR OF ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The phenomenon of street children is considered to be the most important problem facing children today in both the developed and developing world. Accordingly, this phenomenon needs to be assessed the causes and to be solved. To meet the objective, the street living children and youths, government and non-governmental sector officers have been participated in the study. The number of respondents were 103(20 female street living and 83 male) street living children and youths. The participants were selected using accidental sampling technique because these street living communities have no defined time and permanent living place. Street children are denied access to education, basic health care, adequate nutrition, leisure time and the safety and security of their homes, families and the community. In addition street children in Hawassa are vulnerable to wide and extreme violations of their rights. They are frequently abused in verbally, physically and sexually. Their situation is made worse by the negative attitude of the general publics who are insensitive to their predicaments and are less helpful. The study found out that the causal factors of child streetism were analyzed in reference to the theoretical frame of the study. Hence, in this study the situation of living in poverty was found to be one of the factors to push children to move to the street. Parental problem was another factor for a child‟s decision to leave home to move to the street. Children‟s rational choice to live on the street and pressure from the culture on children to move to the city to work as early as they were able to work were other responsible factors for many children‟s street life involvement. The community in general and the parents of the children in particular need well organized mobilization and awareness creation of the problem of street children.