Homepage > Thai Youth Issues > Homeless young children roam streets

Date: June 13, 2001, The Nation

Waifs as young as a year and a half have been found roaming the streets of Bangkok, a Bangkok Metropolitan Administration official said yesterday.

The Social Welfare Office conducted a comprehensive five-month survey of street children with the cooperation of educational institutions and non-governmental organisations, director Anan Siriphassaraporn said.

The survey found 399 children who had run away from home to live on the city streets, and one of them was only one and a half years old, with the oldest 18 and most 11, he said.

Boys made up 65 per cent of the street children and 35 per cent of the children came from homes in Bangkok, 30 per cent from northeastern provinces, 23 per cent from central provinces and 1 per cent from the South, Anan said.

Most of them were escaping family problems such as fighting between parents or physical abuse by parents, the researchers found.

Most said they wanted a new home and career training. They lived under bridges and in markets, parks, bus terminals and temples.