Social reintegration of street-connected children and young people
Numbers of street-connected children and young people (SCCYP) run into many millions worldwide. Programmes for SCCYP aim at reducing the risks they face and improving integration with mainstream society.
A team from Canterbury Christ Church University’s Faculty of Health and Wellbeing, led by Esther Coren, worked in collaboration with an international team of researchers to compare the effectiveness of interventions to help SCCYP towards social reintegration. The project spanned two years and produced a number of outputs, including a recent poster presentation at a conference hosted by the Consortium of Street Children in London which gathered together researchers and NGO staff working with SCCYP across the world.
Twelve interventions, all from high-income countries, were evaluated in a systematic Cochrane/Campbell review (Coren et al. 2013) supported by the international development research funder 3ie. The interventions examined comprised family therapeutic, case management, and motivational/cognitive behavioural interventions delivered by professionals, and were compared to usual services. Both usual and specialist services were found to be moderately effective for some harm-reduction outcomes.
The systematic review was followed by a thematic synthesis focusing on a broad range of interventions in low- and middle-income countries which could not be included in the review (Coren et al. 2014). The findings of the synthesis highlighted challenges in recruiting and retaining SCCYP in available services, including emergency shelters and residential institutions. Service deficiencies, combined with service users’ complex needs and stigmatising or abusive elements in broader society were reported to obstruct service engagement. However, some established and innovative services, typically involving the development of trust, safety and dignity, showed promise in engaging SCCYP in more mainstream activities and lifestyles. The research team highlighted the need to conduct more robust evaluation research in this area.