Street children-Round Table

This round table was held as part of a series of academic sessions which have been organized by the social welfare research group in the university of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation. These round tables aim to address different social problems in Iran. Academics from different disciplines as sociology, psychiatry, social sciences, economics, planning and programming and also practitioners from government organizations and non-governmental organizations were among the participants. At the beginning, different definitions of thi's vulnerable group of children were discussed as "street children”, “children on streets", “children of streets”, and “children at risk”. Then, each of the participants mentioned her/his experience of dealing with this social problem. At the end, after discussing the different aspects of this social problem and its short-term and long-term consequences to society, some recommendations were made which showed the consensus of participants on he importance of a better understanding of this phenomenon and also the necessity of taking an appropriate action to help this group of children and to prevent the additional problems which are associated with being a street children. What is clear is that they exist, and unless we choose to ignore their plight, we can do something for these children The necessity of conducting relevant research projects on this matter was emphasized by all of participants.