Children in Street Situations in South Africa: Conceptualizing Vulnerability

Abstract

This study explains and analyzes the governance of children in street situations in South Africa. The research adopted a qualitative approach with the use of face-to-face interviews. Through the use of a post-structuralist deconstructive approach, I interrogate vulnerability and social protection as key concepts in the discourse of child vulnerability in South Africa. The South African Children's Act no 38 of 2005 outlines that children in street situations in South Africa belong to a broader category of children in need of care and protection. The social problem of children in street situations, commonly known as street children among other variations of labelling of this group, has been a contentious social policy and development issue for decades. This study indicates that vulnerability is central in the formation of social interventions for groups experiencing adversity, risk and exclusion.