Melese Abide^1,, Tarekegn Nukuro¹

The central theme of this paper was to assess the life of street children and the role of government intervention to meet the basic need of street children in Southern Nation, Nationality and People Region (SNNPR), Hadiya zone, Hossana town. To this end, the study used both primary and secondary sources. Primary data were gathered from interview, FGD, and personal observations from 26 respondents of whom 14 street children and 12 government officials whereas secondary data were obtained from the existing literatures. The study employed purposive sampling mechanism due to the nature of the study. The organized data analyzed through both qualitative and quantitative methods. The major finding of the study indicated that, governmental offices in the study area have no capable role in helping destitute children. Street children in Hossana town have forced to live with denied access to basic need. They were vulnerable to wide and extreme violations of their rights and verbally, physically and sexually abused. Based on the findings of the study, governmental bodies’ in the study area should recommended to intervening on schemes; strategies and policy issues.

street children life, government intervention, vulnerability, child abuse