Essay from the year 2013 in the subject Politics - Region: Middle and South America, grade: 1,0, Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin AS (Intercultural Conflict Management), language: English, abstract: This essay starts with a short overview of the situation street children are facing in Brazil now as then. The terminology of who belongs to the group of street children is discussed as well as facts and statistics collected by several researchers. Underlying causes which force them to leave home are analyzed on the macro and micro level. In addition, problems faced by street children in their daily lives are discussed. The second part of this essay is focused on the societal and governmental responses to the situation street children experience. The conclusion aims to answer the question how the gap between legislation and reality can be closed at the best and gives a short outlook to further research options.