COUV ACTES - Psychologie communautaire

Community Psychology: Common Values, Diverse Practicesworking, and they just don’t let you work there, in the city center” (Family 3); “I was worried the Local Councilcould put my children in a shelter” (Family 4); “If there wasn’t this law, it wouldn't be a problem” (Family 7).b. Dangers of the streetBeing on the streets is seen as dangerous because it puts life at risk due to urban violence, drug use and drugtrafficking: “It’s mean, it’s dangerous, because he is putting his life at risk on the street (...) You can see a lot ofthings like stray bullets nowadays. Now it is too dangerous... They are killing innocent people...” (Family 3).c. Helplessness and sufferingThe fact their children are on the streets worries and exhausts family members, arousing concern and feelings ofhelplessness and impotence: “For me it is terrible, a feeling of impotence... that I didn’t know how to set himlimits, I messed up somehow” (Family 9).d. “Easy” moneyMoney easily achieved on the streets has a double meaning: in a positive sense, it helps the familieseconomically; on the other hand, it makes it difficult to drop off the streets: “You know, this business of easymoney, those guys that take care of cars, they earn a lot of money, they stay there one hour, two hours and makemoney ... It is difficult to leave the street, you know!! It's hard to keep themat home because outside there is themoney ... I think people who give them money, maybe if they didn’t give them, I think they would not go on to thestreets that much " (Family 1).e. Protection and bondThis category shows that being on the streets sometimes is perceived as a protection factor, because many timesthey are on the streets following parents in their activities on the street, and this keeps the bond between them: “Itwas good when he was with me, because I could keep an eye on him” (Family 13).f. Labor (denying the street situation opposing it to begging)Working on the streets is not seen as being in street situation. The fact the holes families frequently work on thestreets, the transgenerationality of working on the streets, justifies the validity of the work, as opposed to begging:“I worked on the streets and I didn’t die. They (the children) should work, and not beg” (Family 12).Perspective for the futureAs perspectives for the future, families desire: to have comfort (meaning to have a house, or the existent houseto have a bedroom or a toilet); study, children to finish school, go to the university, to have a better job than theparents, to quit the streets, change their life, not to use drugs, not to be a gangster, not to think about havingchildren during adolescence: “I want them to be what they want “ (Family 3).174