Kids of the Street “Domínguez, Mario, Martha Romero, and Griselda Paul. “Los “Niños Callejeros”: Una vision de sí mismos vinculada al uso de las drogas.” Salud Mental 23, no. 3 (2000): 20-28.”

“Ninos de la calle” “Kids of the street” these are street kids that reside in the streets due to social conditions that prevail in Mexico City. This work is an approximation to the living conditions that these kids go through and the perception they hold of their reality. It was necessary to establish an environmental relationship for nine months where the researchers observe the different aspects of their life style, yet the investigation attempted to expose a different image than the one society generally has. The article mentions that there are many are the factors that play in to a kid leaving to live in the streets, yet the common factor is always marginality, this marginality emerges from broken homes, father or mother absence their abandonment and the lost of any of both, so basically this issue is born from the family situation lived at home. These kids are often seen as dirty, evil, ignorant, bums, delinquents, and drug addicts. There is a notion that given the harsh circumstances of the kid they naturally will tend to be aggressive provoking that some organizations take them off the streets to place them in secluded places and violently try to redirect them.

The project is a recompilation of interviews and field work that provides an insight of the circumstances in which these kids live and also their personal perception of themselves and the world that surrounds them. I think this research allows the reader to eliminate many of the myths or misperceptions that exist attached to this kids.

I think this work is useful in many ways given that not only is a research project of the circumstances in which these kids live but also it encompasses their own perspectives. Now, although this article does not necessarily targets the issue of a Human Rights violation it lays down the severity of their environment and the lack of resources and support from the Government, it shows the absence of law and responsibility from the authority. The combination of their family situation and the lack of resources from the Government, in this instance education and the lack services once they become “kids of the streets”. This will enhance the subject of Human Rights leaving the form of direct violence transforming it in total disinterestedness of the Government maintaining kids living in the streets.