Report Denotes Government’s Negligence On Lack Of Data On Children And Adolescents Living On The Streets
In Brazil, in March 2020, the number of people living on the streets was almost 222 thousand, according to estimates by the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea). In 2019, the NGO World Vision reported that the number of these children in the country was 70,000. The matter caught the attention of lawyer Mariana Albuquerque Zan, who decided to study, in her master’s degree at USP, the reality of this population in the city of Ribeirão Preto.
Among the premises for the master’s project, developed at the Faculty of Law of Ribeirão Preto (FDRP), Mariana sought information related to the quantity and profile, the existence of public policies and the possibility of judicialization for the protection and rescue of the constitutional rights of these women. kids. As a result, the researcher highlighted the lack of official data, a fact that “is already a fact in itself”, she says, as it denotes “neglect from the public authorities” in the city.
The methodology used was the analysis of the project Public policies for children and adolescents living on the streets in Ribeirão Preto-SP ; started in 2017 and involving different actors, including the lawyer herself, the project is still ongoing in the city. Mariana’s final objective was to understand and analyze the actions developed by the State aimed at children and adolescents living on the streets (and, consequently, update them), in addition to suggesting new programs.
When evaluating the unfolding of the city project, the lawyer states that, already in 2018, “the need for articulation between the municipal services that work with children and adolescents was envisioned to provide the necessary referrals for the creation of a specific public policy in municipal level.”
“Complexity does not justify state inertia”
“We don’t have official data about children and adolescents living on the streets in the city, nor any systematized information regarding numbers, sex, race or places where these young people are concentrated”, says the researcher.
According to Mariana, the systematization of information is a complex process: they are people from different backgrounds – ethnic, gender, age, geographic or family configuration. The researcher classifies the State’s failure to collect this data as a violation of these citizens. The justification is that, although marginalized and highly vulnerable, these street children and adolescents “are subjects of rights” and must, under the Federal Constitution and the Child and Adolescent Statute (ECA), have their rights guaranteed. with absolute priority. “The absence of these data shows the invisibility of these young people in the local political agenda”, she declares.
Regarding the need to know data for the city of Ribeirão Preto, the lawyer recalls that the City of São Paulo released, in mid-2022, the Census of Children and Adolescents living on the streets , which showed the existence, in the capital of São Paulo, of around 3,700 children and adolescents in this situation. Of this number, about 60% are male, most adolescents are black (70%) and the prevailing age group is between 12 and 17 years old (42%).
Public policy agenda should be created
The researcher highlights the importance of the work of municipal services, such as social assistance, education, sports, municipal guard and guardianship councils. However, evaluates Mariana, the general panorama of children and adolescents living on the streets in Brazil is still that of “lives marked by the struggle for their rights as citizens.”
As for the specific results of her study in Ribeirão Preto, Mariana believes that her research can support the creation of an agenda of municipal public policies for this population. But more studies are needed in the search for information that will serve as a basis for a fairer society.