A study to investigate the family background of street children at Lahore

The family plays a vital role in the life of the children. The family should provide every child not only food, clothing and shelter but also with love, affection and a sense of emotional security. The paramount objective of the present study is to shed light the family background of the street children. The study is conducted in the city of Lahore which first time highlighted the cruel incident of serial killing of street children in the history of Pakistan. The field based, exploratory type of study uses both qualitative and quantitative methods of research and strengthened from data collected. Observation and a structured interview schedule were used as tools for data collection from the field. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used for the purpose of interpretation of the results. The results of the research show that the majority of street children belong to large size rural families and had joint family system. The research also presents that the street children had low family income status and majority of them had uneducated mothers. The research also depicts that the majority of street children parents were alive and living together while their mothers were dominated in their parents relationship. The research reveals the dire need of initiating a nationwide micro credit program with the cooperation of public and private efforts especially in the remote areas to eliminate the vicious cycle of poverty. The research also recommends that Government and NGOs should devise training program on parentage skills which are necessary to improve the stander of parentage in Pakistan.