Street children are often positioned as deviant and contrasting to powerful moral constructions of family, home and childhood. Here they are viewed as a product the nuclearisation of extended families and breakdown of community relationships. The literature suggests instead street children gain acceptance through forming street families. However, it is rare for street children to severe all ties with home, and research is needed to fully explore these connections. This research draws on Beck's individualisation thesis as a framework for understanding the changing nature of South African communities, exploring the idea that contemporary economic, social and political contexts have impacted upon families and children's subsequent integration into, and exit from, street life. Using street researcher and biographical approaches, the project will explore street children's social, spatial and temporal relationships. In particular the research will consider children's freedom to access the street without being tied to moral obligations of the extended family and how this affects their investment in, and maintenance of, street and family relationships. In addition, the research will consider the changing nature of street children's relationships over the life path exploring the effects of street life on their subsequent re-integration into communities and later family-formation and child-rearing practices.

Methods used: informal in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and participatory methods – pictoral family trees; network maps. The research took place in the Greater Cape Town Metropolitan Area and young people were accessed from a number of sites. This gave depth to the young people’s experiences and allowed for the increased spatial diversity of street children’s lives. Approximately 50 street children aged between 11 and 18 participated in the research. In addition, approximately 30 adults were interviewed biographically through life history interviews. The adults comprised mostly men and women between the aged of 18 and 35 who had spent some or all of their childhood and youth on the streets. Some were still on the streets, others were off the street but many were still in a transitional state between these two points and were at various stages in the life course.