In Bangladesh, as in many developing countries, there is a widespread belief amongst the public, policy makers and social workers that children ‘abandon’ their families and migrate to the street because of economic poverty. Ignoring and avoiding mounting evidence to the contrary, this dominant narrative posits that children whose basic material needs cannot be met within the household move to the street. This article explores this narrative through the analysis of detailed empirical research with children in Bangladesh. It finds that social factors lie behind most street migration and, in particular, that moves to the street are closely associated with violence towards and abuse of children within the household and local community. These findings are consistent with the wider literature on street migration from other countries. In Bangladesh, those who seek to reduce the flow of children to the streets need to focus on social policy, especially on how to reduce the excessive control and emotional, physical and sexual violence that occur in some households. Economic growth and reductions in income poverty will be helpful, but they will not be sufficient to reduce street migration by children.

(Fumala,

This paper investigates what children in street situations in Dhaka value as important, and how they protect and promote their livelihoods when living on the street. It argues that, despite the common belief held by many people in mainstream society, in the realm of policy and in NGOs, these children are not destitute. They have dynamic portfolios of assets and show complex coping strategies generally managed in a group. When considering policy implications, this paper argues that to be effective, sustainable and respectful, intervention has to abandon the focus on children's deprivations often fostered by a strict interpretation of children's rights. On the contrary, a more systematic investigation of children's initiatives to improve their lives when on the street should guide interventions on how to help them strengthen their assets, rather than to create substitutes for them. "People think we don't have anything because we live on the street. They don't see the many things we can have even if living here … You can say I am poor but I'm not a 'kangali'. (1) NGOs give us what they want without asking us what is important for us. But we could not live without certain things we value important and we do what we can to get them." (Fumala, 17-year-old girl) Dr Alessandro Conticini holds an honours degree in International Political Economics from the University of Bologna and a doctoral degree from the Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM) at the University of Manchester, where he is also an affiliated researcher with the Chronic Poverty Research Centre. He has been the recipient of ESRC doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships, and was granted a research fellowship from the Swiss Confederation at the University of Fribourg. In 2003-2004, he was awarded the Rotary Prize of Ambassador of Peace and Goodwill. His main academic and professional interest is child protection in developing countries.

Nearly 20 years after the emergence of a specialised literature dealing with homeless children and youth, best practices are still rare and a divide remains between our understanding of street life, and the policy and programmes that are promoted to reach out to street-living children: a persisting dichotomy between theory and practice. While much of the literature available is still entrapped in a sort of 'pathology of case studies' unable to provide systematic information to policy makers and practitioners, this paper claims originality in presenting an inter-disciplinary understanding of the processes of street adaptation followed by children. In doing so, the paper presents a grounded theory to predict the consequences of street life and to plan interventions accordingly. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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