Where our kids come from. . .

The homeless children & teen population here in Bolivia continues to grow. It's startling to see how many young kids, in Santa Cruz alone roam the streets filthy, high, hurting, hungry & hopeless. Most of these kids come from broken homes where many times parents have substance abuse problems themselves & will often send their kids out to help bring home extra income for the household. The great majority of the kids at our homes & those who're still on the streets come from backgrounds of physical, sexual & psychological abuse - & have sometimes been abandoned all together. They turn to the streets as a method of survival and it's there where older kids teach them how to steal, introduce them to drugs, and lead girls into prostitution. What does the government do? Not much really. Police regularly beat & extort the kids, and there really is no concerted effort to solve the problem. Street kids are for the most part looked as a nuisance to society, and from time to time are 'rounded up,' & dropped off somewhere outside the city, only to find their way back the following day.