Street Children and Resilience: A Study of Financial Transactions within Social Networks Among Bangladeshi Street Children

Background and Purpose:

Street children, or children living on the street, are a highly vulnerable group at risk for exploitation, malnutrition, human trafficking, and health/behavioral health problems. Street children in low-resource nations are particularly vulnerable. There are an estimated 1-3 million street children in Bangladesh, who face poverty, violence, and social stigma. The literature on street children emphasizes victimhood. However, researchers must also consider street children’s resilience and asset-building behaviors. The development of social work interventions at all levels for this population, requires insight into how street children build resiliency, despite severe life adversity.

Through our poster, we will present a qualitative study on street children who mitigate economic vulnerabilities and social needs through extensive financial transactions among members of peer networks.

The study objectives were to: 1) gain insight into how street children in Bangladesh use social networks to meet their needs and 2) gain insight into how street children build resilience through navigating their way to the resources that sustain their well-being.

The research question that guided the study was how do street children in Bangladesh use their social networks to engage in financial transactions to meet their needs and sustain well-being?

Methods:

The data were derived from a larger study which explored Bangladeshi street children's social networks. A qualitative approach was used, with approval of the principal investigator’s (P.I.) Institutional Review Board. In-depth interviews were conducted with 75 street-living children in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Fifty-nine boys and 16 girls were interviewed multiple times. The in-depth interviews were conducted in Bengali, after an intensive rapport-building phase with the children. Nvivo 9 was used to organize and code the data for analysis.

Results:

The average age of participants was 12.64 years. Participants had been living on the streets for six months to over six years (average was 34.1 months). Eighty-four percent of children reported having an education level lower than third grade. All participants were from low-income households. Multiple financial transactions took place among children’s networks each day. Over half of the children had six to nine peers in their network; over one third of the participants reported at least 12 peers.

Financial transactions were grouped into three broad themes: 1) needs-based transactions; 2) socialization and entertainment based transactions; and 3) social-obligation based transactions. Depending on the circumstance, a child may have pursued the following financial transactions: 1) seeking donation/loan from close network members (other street children); 2) requesting advance payment from an “employer”; and/or 3) seeking support from older youths outside of the close network.

Conclusion and Implications:

This study was intended to provide insight into how Bangladeshi street children use social networks for financial transactions to build resilience and meet their everyday needs. Based on our analysis, street children are resilient and resourceful, relying on a variety of social networks. Based on our findings, social work interventions with street children should focus on resilience-promoting programs and involve street children in intervention processes.