Regional Research on Prevalence of Street Children Phenomenon in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia

Street involved and at risk children represent the most vulnerable group of individuals in social need. This group of children, due to poverty and the fact that they often work long hours, remains excluded from all relevant social systems. The number of street involved children has increased rapidly over the past few years in South Eastern Europe.

In response to the problem, in 2012 Save the Children in North-West Balkans (SCiNWB), based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, launched the project “Comprehensive protection for street children in the SEE Region”, whose overall objective was to establish effective models of support and protection to street involved children, in order to prevent violence, exploitation and abuse and to minimise unsafe child migration and risks of trafficking in the Balkans region.

In this context a comprehensive regional piece of research was planned, with the aim of researching the phenomenon of “children living and working on the street and children at risk of street involvement” in the South Easter Europe region. Read this research report to learn about conditions for children living on the street and the challenges their families encounter. Overall, the findings show a lack of understanding for the phenomenon of “street involved children”.