Regardless of the true number of homeless children in Brazil, that conundrum touched on in Chapter 4, one thing is certain: the number of programs for street children has burgeoned throughout the country. In Rio, for instance, one study counted 39 institutions that catered exclusively to street children (Valladares and Impelizieri 1991: 9). This survey noted that all of these programs had been created around or after the mid-1980s and that their numbers changed rapidly: in the course of the five months it took to complete the study, four new programs were created. Likewise, a gamut of projects has emerged in Recife, with government, civil, and religious organizations all vying for a role. In contrast to the impression given in many reports about “millions” of abandoned children beyond the reach of adult intervention, the relatively small number of children living in the streets of Recife typically have contact with adults from a variety of institutions. Most of the city's street children have been to at least one live-in program (Recife had four in 1992 and six by 1995). Of 26 children who lived in the street at the time of my interviews, 19 had lived in at least one shelter. Nearly all street children have been approached by a variety of outreach workers in the street, some over a period of many years.

Table 5 contains information about the number of adult personnel in the organizations working with street children.