Provisions of social workers to victims of internal child trafficking in Uganda: A case study of children living on the streets of Kampala City

Sammanfattning: Human trafficking has become a serious global challenge in the recent past. Regarded as a global epidemic, it has triggered an increase in numbers of children living on the streets especially in countries where internal trafficking in children is a common social vice. This has resulted into a syndemic as a social evil in human trafficking has triggered another social evil in resident children on the streets of urban centres. The conditions of street life have made the resident children vulnerable to abuse and exploitation hence providing a task to social workers to work out mechanisms of ensuring that the welfare and living conditions of street children are improved. Basing on this proposition, the purpose of the study was to establish provisions of social workers to trafficked children living on the streets of Kampala city in Uganda. The study was guided by three specific objectives, one to establish the service needs of the children living on the streets, two, to examine the perceptions and opinions of the children living on the streets about the approaches used by social workers in meeting their needs and the challenges facing social workers in providing for the service needs of children living on the streets. The study was guided by the Needs-Hierarchy Theory of Abraham Maslow and Ecological Systems Theory by Bronfenbrenner. The study adopted a qualitative approach mainly involving 12 children aged 15-17 years who were living on the streets and supported by social workers. Their responses were substantiated by 5 social workers, 3 elected political leaders and 1 NGO leader. Data were collected using interviews and analyzed using narrative text and verbatim quotations. Results of the study revealed that children living on the streets are vulnerable to economic and sexual exploitation while also, they are prone to physical injuries and emotional abuse. These conditions have therefore brought about an increase in the service needs of children living on the streets such as counseling, life-skills training, emotional protection, physical protection, healthcare needs and vocational skills. These needs are cited as critical for the holistic development of children by Abraham Maslow. The study also established that, social workers in Kampala city faced by the above service gaps, have adopted preventive remedial and follow-up approaches to ensure that the needs are met and these were perceived to be vital in the lives of children living on the streets. The study further established that, social workers faced social and structural challenges that hampered the effectiveness of the approaches used including mistrust from the children and threats from traffickers, among others. The study concluded that human trafficking has brought about a proportionate increase in the numbers of children living on the streets and consequent human rights abuses. The study recommended need for a policy to abate human trafficking and need for improved working conditions for social workers dealing with children living on the streets.