www.ijsrp.org Why Children Leave their Homes for the Streets? The

Abstract- This study is part of a broad research that sought to establish the counseling needs of adolescent street kids and in Harare Central Business District. This paper looks at the major causes that lead to children leaving their homes for the streets. A representative sample was drawn which comprised of 40 street kids who were receiving some assistance from four non-governmental organizations and 8 officials from the organizations. A qualitative descriptive survey was used to guide the methodology. Data was collected using questionnaires and structured interviews for officials and the street kids respectively. Qualitative data with descriptive statistics was used in the presentation and analysis of data. The results showed that children were forced into the streets by factors that included social factors connected with the breakdown of the family structure, economic factors that included poverty and unemployment. The study recommended that non-governmental organizations must get to the root cause of the problem instead of just treating the symptoms of the problem as what is currently happening. It was also recommended that there was need for the organizations to involve the street children in finding solutions to their problems. Index Terms- street kids, non- governmental organisations, counselling, counselling needs I