Table 3.
Key informant responses, across all centers, (N = 29).
| KI topics | Themes | Responses |
|---|---|---|
| Fighting | Description | Between mother/father and parent/child |
| Threatening, beating, belittling each other | ||
| Causes | Parents punish without reason | |
| Bad relationships | ||
| Mother or father drinking alcohol | ||
| Toxicomania or other drug use | ||
| Child not earn enough money for family | ||
| Child misbehaving | ||
| Poor families | ||
| Parent with psychological problem | ||
| When mother is a whore | ||
| Effects | Negatively affects child: children learn to fight | |
|
| ||
| Beating | Description | Between parents, parent/child and siblings |
| Group beating child if he/she causes problems on street | ||
| Causes | Parents do not like child's behavior | |
| Way to get child to bring more money home | ||
| Child stealing | ||
| Parent does not know how to treat a child | ||
| Parent uses drugs/alcohol | ||
| Unstable family | ||
| Father being upset with someone else | ||
| Lover | ||
| Economic need | ||
| Effects | Child humiliated | |
| Child going to street | ||
|
| ||
| Alcohol/drug abuse | Description | Individual gets addicted; physiologic dependence |
| Causes: family | Used to get rid of problems | |
| To be in good mood | ||
| Lack of attention from parents | ||
| To forget worries | ||
| Being ashamed or tired of having addicted parents | ||
| Unemployment of parents | ||
| Conflict in families | ||
| Child imitating parents | ||
| Causes: peer relationships | Imitating friends | |
| To be in with a circle of friends | ||
| Trying to prove to friends they are cool | ||
| Interest/curiosity | ||
| Ability to use drugs freely | ||
| Effects | Aggression in child | |
| Child using | ||
| Parents forcing child to bring home money | ||
|
| ||
| Family relationships | Reason children go to the street | Poor family relationships |
| Constant conflict | ||
| Beating between parents | ||
| Parent beating a child | ||
| Child receiving no attention | ||
| Parents thinking only of their own happiness | ||
| Parent prostituting | ||
| Causes of poor family relations | Economic vulnerability | |
| Unemployment | ||
| Drug/alcohol addicted parents | ||
| Volatile parents | ||
| Parents who ignore children | ||
| Parent who has a lover | ||
| Parent who sells the child or forces them to get money | ||
|
| ||
| Friendships | Description | Those with common problems |
| Make decisions together/collaborate | ||
| Care/help each other | ||
| Devoted | ||
| Share things equally | ||
| Attracted to common adventures | ||
| Stable/will not betray you | ||
| Characteristics that encourage children to the street |
Ability to get compassion | |
| Remedy for child's loneliness | ||
| Interest in children who live on street | ||
| Wanting to be cool | ||
| Effects | Child stealing to help a friend | |
| Not caring for parents because of friends | ||
| Forced to steal | ||
| Smoking cigarettes | ||
| Drink/using drugs | ||
| Being with a bad group of friends | ||