An overview of programmes offered by shelters for street children in South Africa Zitha Mokomane*† and Mokhantšo Makoae‡ *Chief Research Specialist, ‡Senior Research Specialist, Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa, and †Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa Correspondence: Zitha Mokomane, Department of Sociology, University of Pretoria, P/Bag X20, Hatfield, Pretoria 0028, South Africa E-mail: zitha.mokomane@up.ac.za Keywords: eco-developmental framework, programmes, shelters, South Africa, street children Accepted for publication: July 2015 ABSTRACT This paper reports part of the findings from a 2014 audit of shelters for street children conducted in four provinces of South Africa. The paper focuses on the assessment of the types, structure and imple- mentation of the programmes, as well as on the adequacy of resources necessary for implementing the programmes. The overall picture that emerged from the assessment was that all shelters draw on a comprehensive and enabling legislative and policy framework to offer some elements of developmental, therapeutic and recreational programmes at the early intervention level. Overall, however, the implementation of the programmes does not effectively take into consideration the varied and interconnected factors that, within and across multiple social systems, impel children to the streets. It was thus apparent that the programmes do not adequately address the risks and opportunities of street children in South Africa, specifically within the eco-developmental framework. Recommendations are offered for social work policy and practice to further enhance the quality and impact of programmes offered in the shelters. INTRODUCTION Within the group of children designated as ‘street children’, there is wide diversity in actual life circum- stances that stem from child-specific psychosocial problems, weakened social capital and social exclusion (Volpi 2003; Ward et al. 2007). Although it is recog- nized that the lives of these children are fluid (UNICEF 1984), various categorization have been proposed to describe them, with the most common being United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)’s classic distinc- tion between ‘children of the streets’ and ‘children on the streets’. The latter are home-based children who spend much of the day on the streets but have some family support and usually return home at night. Chil- dren of the streets, on the other hand, have the streets as their main adobe; the former home is visited infre- quently or never (UNICEF 1984; Lalor 1999). Although street children are physically visible on the streets and other public areas, their fluid, evasive and unpredictable lifestyle keep them hidden from system- atic identification, counting and monitoring (UNICEF 1984; DSD 2009). In consequence there is a global paucity of up-to-date data on the precise number of these children (Volpi 2003). In South Africa available estimates date from the 1990s when between 9000 and 10 000 children were estimated to be living and working on the streets (Richter 1991; Swart-Kruger & Donald 1994). Current estimates are that the number of street children in the country hovers around 250 000 (Van Jaarsveld et al. 2011). In terms of other demo- graphics, street children in South Africa are typically male, between the ages of 10 and 17 years, and virtually all are Black (see Note 1); coloureds make up a very small proportion, whereas the numbers of Indian and white children are negligible (Ward et al. 2007; DSD 2009; Ward & Seager 2010; Idemudia et al. 2013). Ward et al. (2007) found that over two-thirds of street children in Johannesburg sleep in open areas such as the street and parks, 27% had no permanent homes and for 61% home was too far to commute. Similar patterns were found in other urban areas of the country doi:10.1111/cfs.12251 1 Child and Family Social Work 2015 © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd