The phenomenon of Street children has come into existence because of the interplay between a medley of factors, industrialisation, migration from rural to urban areas, poverty, dearth of education opportunities, broken families, cruelty & abuse, neglect, etc. All these have led to an escalating number of children running away from homes or left to fend for themselves.
          

In India the number of children below 14 years accounts for 35% of the entire 1.27 billion population. There were an approximate of 20 million street children according to a census done in 1999. Due to the floating nature of population, no one knows for certain how many street children are there in India today.

Mumbai - “the city of dreams” is considered as a place where anyone and everyone can acquire a good life. Its glamorous and wealthy reputation attracts a lot of children who leave, run away, or are sent off from their homes. The city well connected by railways and roadways to virtually every part of the country is easily accessible. Once in the city the street children have no where to go and fall victim to child-labour, begging, crime, drugs, assault & sexual exploitation.
         

A number of NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations) have stepped forward to provide a helping hand to these Street-children who suffer as they struggle to stay alive. In a life wrecked by the twists of fate, such NGOs seem to come around as a hope to giving the children a chance to salvage their childhood. Various organizations run shelters across and around the city aimed at getting the children off the streets, rehabilitating them, providing them with the warmth of home, educating them, training them in vocational skills to efforts to find them respectable jobs later on. Don Bosco Shelter (www.shelterdonbosco.org) is one such organization.  The entire programme is conducted in various phases run at different locations.

•    Street Contact – Volunteers interact with street children in an informal environment often providing basic counseling.

•    De-toxification – street children are helped out in their addictions from sniffing Whiteners/Thinners, drugs like Marijuana, smoking cigarettes, drinking liquor, chewing tobacco, etc…

•    Rehabilitation – a safe home where the children are provided with all the basic necessities, here they get time to think for themselves, take decisions. They under go counseling during this phase.

•    Vocational training & Non- formal education – they are helped out with placements after training.

The efforts of such NGOs prove essential as the paving stones to creating a better future for Street children. Though the issue of Street children is a long way from being solved, there is a necessity to understand the circumstances and a sense of consideration that these children are like any other average child, with dreams and ambitions. As of now a need for public awareness towards this prevalent problem is the requirement of the day.