Because school is not a viable option for many street children, they look for other ways to get support networks. About half of market children attend school, many of the others being too young to do so. On the other hand, a shocking 90% of street children do not attend school and those that do typically only have about three years of education before leaving.


Street children can typically get some support, although little, from:

• Other street children
• Informal gangs
• Sympathetic merchants
• Formal shelters
• Various social service
• Outreach programs

They have learned where they can go for food, shelter, and other necessities in times of dire need.


Even with the limited protection offered by these loose support networks, there are still many dangers for street children. Some of the more basic threats are foul weather, city traffic, and threat of abuse from police, adults, and other street children. Food and a place to sleep are challenges street children face everyday.

The recent attention on the condition of street children has led to several policy making conventions. The U.N. Convention on the Rights of Children and the 1990 World Summit for Children in New York indicate a growing public awareness of the problem and there has also been an increase of rhetoric and paperwork on street children.

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Information for this page came from the following sources:

Janowsky, Erik Gordon. 1991. “Street Children and Street Educators in Guatemala City and Tegucigalpa, Honduras.”     Master degree thesis, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA.

Wittig, Martha, James D. Wright, and Donald C. Kaminsky. 1997. “Substance Use Among Street Children in Honduras.” Substance Use and Misuse 32: 805-827

Wright, James D., Donald C. Kaminski, and Martha Wittig. 1993. “Health and Social Conditions of Street Children in      Honduras.” American Journal of Diseases of Children 147: 279-283

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This website was created by Jeremy Hall, Michael Lewis, and Chrystelle Zweidler.

This is a project for Prof. April Brayfield’s Children and Society, a first year English writing seminar at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. We are not, nor claim to be, experts on Honduras. This project was completed with limited resources and in a limited time frame.