Abstract:
The phenomenon of street children in urban centres globally has been increasing at an
alarming rate. However, the efforts to resolve it have failed partly due to lack of
adequate knowledge by the concerned stakeholders on the strategies to employ
because of the street children‟s way of life in the street. Children in the streets face
many challenges as the life they lead is largely inhumane with unending abuse and
suffering that affects their lives. Hence, it is important to understand the reasons why
they resist rehabilitation and choose to continue with suffering in the streets. Limited
studies have been done on the factors that make street children resist rehabilitation
and choose to continue with hard life in the streets. The main objective of this study
was to examine the factors that influence street children‟s resistance to rehabilitation
in Nakuru Town. Specific objectives of the study were; to establish the social factors
that make street children resist rehabilitation in Nakuru town, to find out the economic
factors that make street children resist rehabilitation in Nakuru town and to determine
the coping mechanisms of street children to hard life of the streets in Nakuru town.
The study was informed by the social network and resilience theories. The target
population of the study was street children living in Nakuru Town. The unit of
analysis was the street child in Nakuru Town. The study applied multi-stage sampling
techniques that comprised of purposive, stratification and snowballing in selecting the
respondents. Data analysis used both qualitative and quantitative methods where
analyzed data was presented in tables, pie charts and cross tabulation followed by
interpretations and discussions in order to address the objectives and research
questions. In addressing social factors that make street children resist rehabilitation,
the study established that street children are organized in groupings called bases; this
is a survival group system with formal structure of leadership. It enables them to have
a sense of belonging, identity, and security. The study recommends that interventions
targeting rehabilitation of street children should understand the social economic and
coping mechanisms of street children to street life in order to apply appropriate
intervention.
