International Day for Street Children 2012

(Video: Consortium for Street Children) 

(HN, 4/12/12) - Street child is a term for a homeless child residing primarily in the streets of a city.  The exact definition of a street child is debatable due to the lack of precise categories but the term has largely been used in reference to children who live entirely in the streets, without adult supervision or care. They are often subject to abuse, neglect, exploitation, or, in extreme cases, murder.

(PHOTO: Street child in Bangladesh/Wikipedia)They're found in a large majority of the world's cities & are more prevalent in densely populated urban hubs across the world - though not limited to India, China, Africa, & Russia, among others. According to a report from the Consortium for Street Children, a UK based organization of related NGOs, UNICEF an estimate of as high as  100 million children are growing up on city streets around the world; tho ‘The exact number of street children is impossible to quantify, it is likely that the numbers are increasing’.  (Read more at CSC)