A 12-year-old who left home at age six told me that he had spent six years in the street, three in a shelter. Because the arithmetic so obviously did not work out, I asked him to explain what he meant. He repeated himself, only clarifying that during three of the six years that he had been na rua (in the street) he had been in a shelter. Such exchanges raise a question – do the children see institutions as a means of leaving the street or merely as one element of a larger concept of street life? If the institutions aim to reclaim children (recuperar as crianζas), uproot them from the street (tirar eles [sic] da rua), offer them a new life (uma vida nova), or give them rights as citizens, what do the kids see in the institutions?

In all of the talk about street children, there is scant analysis of the institutions that seek to represent, aid, or even rescue these children. What little is said about the institutions seems aimed only at raising money for them. Whereas the previous chapter sought to examine the approaches of agencies that help street children, this final chapter turns the tables and examines how the kids see the institutions. I argue that street children in Recife tend to view the social service institutions as an integral part of street life, not as a way out.