Homelessness In Russia

Introduction
Humans are born to live and strive for greatness, but throughout the world, abandonment, neglect, poverty and homelessness are major factors in children’s everyday lived experiences in which affect them mentally, socially and emotionally. Through several scholarly research conducted, I found that on a day-to-day basis they face many hardships that include hunger, abuse, neglect, sickness and other forms of dangers that affect their childhood, growth and development. Russia is a country of economic distress, in which has trouble accounting for the thousands of children living on the street. The main reasons in which children as young as six years old live on the streets include; parental drug/alcohol addiction, abuse, abandonment,
Russia’s economy is currently at its lowest since 2009 (Trading Economics, 2016, para. 1). It has endured major population drops yearly, due to the fact that there is an increase in deaths compared to the amount of births yearly, and because of this according to Sally W. Stoeker (2001), if the trend continues there will be very few Russian citizens, which could in turn, affect the economy and those living in the country (p. 319). The reason that the population is currently dropping is not only to do with high mortality rates, but also out-migration as well as high infant mortality rates (Stoeker, 2001, p. 319). These reasons are a result of many things including unemployment, environmental hazards and increased poverty (Stoeker, 2001, p. 319). Because of this not only are citizens not receiving the care they need, but looking at how many infant mortalities there are yearly, it is safe to say that children are not seeking the attention they need in order to strive and grow up in a safe community. All of this in short, connects to unemployment which can equal health problems especially regarding alcoholism and drug addiction, which in turn, because of the economic struggles of Russia, leave children hopeless and seeking refuge to the streets of Russia (Darmodekhin, 2003, p.
Street children in Russia are often viewed as unwanted, due to the roles they turn to while living on the street such as beggars, drug dealers and much more. These children often are viewed negatively mainly because of the stereotypes that are in place, for example, dirty, lazy, and dangerous. According to Creuziger (1997), children living on the street are seen as worthless (p. 350). Because of this view, not everyone is willing to help children out by moving them into institutions that would better their childhood such as orphanages or foster care, or even giving them money for food or clothing. Homeless children generally do not have a social structure to guide them through their childhood and set forth qualities of maturity and therefore, act childlike and inappropriate, which strengthens the stereotypes and negative views upon them. They are known for attacking people especially elder women and men and therefore, are not seen as equals or of children in general, but rather unwanted human