While most child workers have homes to return, the street children are completely alone and at the mercy of their employers, and circumstances night and day. Their number of meals is one to three daily, often getting leftover from the restaurants and eating-places in the areas they hang around. Many are also found in the vicinity of religious shrines where people donate food for the poor.
When these innocent children leave their homes whatsoever is the reason, they do not expect or anticipate the dire consequences. When they become exposed to the outer world they come to know how cruel and corrupt it is. They are at the mercy of criminals, drug addicts, traffickers and the police.
This is the most vulnerable group to Child Sexual Abuse. They are forcefully involved in it by the organized crime network, and later it becomes a means of survival in the streets. Their erratic existence sometimes produces distortion of the mind in the younger children who lose track of time, and distance, they do not know how long they are wandering. The unhygienic living and eating patterns of these children lead them to wards variety of health problems, like malnutrition bacterial and parasitic infections, skin ailments due to exposure to the extreme conditions of weather. Studies show that among the most serious threats to the health of street children is their high degree of the exposure to drugs and sexual abuse. They use cigarettes, alcohol and different drugs. Drugs that are easily available are solvents, marijuana, crack and glue. This is a new observed phenomenon of intoxication in the street children. These children also have a higher risk of acquiring STD and HIV because of their exploitation by AID sufferers, junkies and abusers.
They are often looked upon as delinquents, so nobody is willing to employ them in their homes and workplaces. This rejection from the society has an effect on the society. They develop anti-social behavior, become criminals, abusers, addicts, molesters, robbers, or drug traffickers just at the age of 16 to 18 years. They have no faith in humanity, no obligation. They know no law, no education, no system, no future and no life.