Research Team:

Dr. habil. Małgorzata Michel, Professor at Jagiellonian University, Aleksandra Rydel, Zofia Stanisławek

Project Description and Research Report Findings:

In Poland, the number of excluded children living in extreme poverty is growing. Among them are street children. The Council of Europe defines street children as individuals under the age of 18 who, for a certain period, live in a street environment, although they are not necessarily born or permanently residing on the street. They are officially registered at their parents’ address but meet their basic needs in the street environment. Their places of stay include streets, courtyards, gateways, basements, attics, abandoned buildings, etc. Street children are often referred to as children with stolen childhoods, whose rights are violated both by close adults and by representatives of educational and aid institutions.

According to research conducted by the author, in Poland these are children:

• from the poorest urban areas, living in extreme neglect and poverty,
• with parents in penitentiary isolation,
• victims of domestic violence,
• experiencing homelessness, living in allotment garden sheds, abandoned buildings, etc.,
• most often residing with their mothers in shelters for victims of domestic violence,
• refugees,
• running away from care facilities, youth educational centers, etc.,
• most often staying with their mothers in centers supporting people in homelessness crises.

These children suffer from mental health crises, disabilities, have special educational needs, are at risk of social maladjustment and demoralization, exhibit PTSD symptoms, grow up in extremely unfavorable educational and social environments, are materially neglected, and often hungry. We are unable to estimate the exact number of such children in Poland—it may be as high as 350,000 (according to the Foundation for Poland). Additionally, the report by the Szlachetna Paczka Foundation (Report on Poverty 2023) indicates that there are about 400,000 hungry children in Poland.

The research report conducted by the author in cooperation with the Federation of Streetworker Organizations for Children and Youth (FOS) on working with children on the streets in Poland (S.O.S. Support for Streetworker Organizations. Research Report) states that the most neglected children in Poland are often assisted by individuals without pedagogical training. Frequently, these are volunteers without solid pedagogical support. This creates numerous complications in difficult street situations, such as witnessing a crime against a child, initiating cooperation with the child’s family, representatives of local aid institutions, and the family court. The research findings presented in the report clearly indicate the need for professionalization and formal-legal grounding of activities carried out using the streetworking method. The report concludes with research results, findings, and recommendations for streetwork practice in Poland.

The report can be found >>here<<.