Mexico considers 'ban' on street children

Still, many say it does not address the economic reality that Mexican families face – in a country where over half the population lives in poverty.

"It is not that we want to see children working as a way of life," says David Espinosa, an education psychologist at the Interdisciplinary Center for Social Development (CIDES), one of 60 organizations that signed the letter against the proposal, which was introduced earlier this month.

CIDES offers classes to at-risk children to bolster their formal studies. Many of them miss class for their jobs. "They have an economic necessity to help their families," Mr. Espinosa says. "The politicians want to create a fictitious city, where they say poverty does not exist."

Selling food at a subway station

Working has been a reality for teenager Eleuteria Dominguez for as long as she can remember. At a recent day at CIDES, she goes through drills with her classmates on what to do in case of an earthquake – a practical lesson that includes a grammar and spelling exercise meant to reinforce lessons at school. She, her three siblings, and her mother sell food at a subway station – mostly on weekends, she says. "Our father doesn't help much," she says. "I like to help my mom."

This is not the government's first attempt to get children off the streets, and in various cities across the country, local officials already do so.

In 2000, Mexico launched a program called "From the Street to Life," to bring together the government and various nonprofits to address the problems of street children. The government has also launched an incentive program to keep children in classrooms, paying families monthly allowances if their children stay in school.

Click here to read about a similar program in Brazil

In the 1990s, especially as street children began using drugs and getting caught up in gangs, governments across the region, from Brazil to Central America, relied on a policy of "sweep the streets." "The tendency has been for governments in Latin America to hide or deny the problem," says Uche Ewelukwa, an associate professor of law at the University of Arkansas who has written on street children's rights. But she says such programs, even when touted as a security measure, are often misguided. "If you take children off of the street, more will come onto the street."

Ms. Munozcano Skidmore says such programs have failed because there are neither the resources nor the understanding of the complexities of why children end up living or working on the streets. Many children are not merely homeless or working for money, for instance. Many have long gotten caught up in organized crime webs, are drug users, or have been forced into prostitution. Some don't attend school because they do not perceive that formal education will offer them any benefit; instead they opt to work as informal vendors. Many sent to social service organizations simply escape the next day.

Sen. Guillermo Tamborrel Suárez, of the ruling Nacional Action Party (PAN) and head of the commission for vulnerable groups studying the proposal, says he is committed to getting children off the streets. "Each child has a right to live in a family, a right to health, a right to eduction," he says. But he says he would like to see the language modified to include a case-by-case study of each child's needs and a process of convincing those who can to return to school or home. "Assistance centers should be the last resort."

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