CAUSES OF HOMELESSNESS AMONG CHILDREN

Introduction: One of the most prominent definitions of homelessness is that of the Stewart B. Mckinney Homeless Assistance, Act of 1987, which was the first major federal response to the ho-melessness in the US which defines homeless as; an individual who lacks a fixed, regular and ade-quate night – time residence. Identify the causes of homelessness among children and list the spe-cific health problems of homeless children.Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive cross sectional study, performed at the Noriabad Edhi Center, Karachi in which 100 children were randomly selected. Data was collected through a structured pretested questionnaire. It included the questions regarding different reasons of leaving home and the health conditions of the homeless children. Informed consent was taken from all children and it was made sure that children did not face any inconvenience in their follow up visits for the purpose of this study.Results: A total of forty six percent of children residing at Noriabad Edhi Center were in the age group between 14 – 18 years. Most of the children (54%) belonged to the province of Sindh. Most of children (35%) left home because of violence by the parents followed by financial problem in 31% of cases. Thirty five percent of the children were left in the Edhi Center by their own parents. A large proportion (65%) of children was habitual to addiction and among them 23 had domestic violence while 20 had financial problem at home. It was disclosed that among the 65% of children who were addicted, 20% were addicted to ghutka and similar percentage of children were addicted to chalia; while 15% were involved in cigarette smoking and 10% in glue sniffing. Most of the children i.e. 43% got the drugs through their friends. Most of the children left home due to domestic violence and financial problem. A sizable proportion of children residing at Edhi Center were indulged in substance abuse. The fact that children had access to a large variety of intoxicating substance namely ghutka, glue sniffing and cigarette smoking.