Violence against children who have left home, lived on the street and been domestic workers — A study of reintegrated children in Kagera Region, Tanzania

Children all over the world experience physical, emotional and sexual violence. Children leaving home for street or domestic work are especially vulnerable. Strategies for facilitating reintegration for these children are advocated, but enough is still not known about the outcome of such reintegration in terms of violence and abuse. The study aimed at examining the extent of violence against children who have left home in Kagera Region, Tanzania as well as in different stages of their trajectory of life, i.e. before leaving home, on the street, as domestic workers, and after reintegration. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 214 participants aged 13–24, who had earlier left their homes and had now been reintegrated into the local community for at least one year. The study also examined the residual violence still taking place after reintegration and its potential impact on their psychological quality of life. This study, first of its kind in the country measuring level of violence for children who have left home as well as after reintegration, offered a unique opportunity to compare level of violence with other nationally conducted studies on violence against children recruited from the home setting. The result showed a significantly higher overall prevalence of violence against the children who left home compared to the national average. After reintegration, the overall prevalence of violence had declined significantly (p-value <0.001) and to the same level as the national average, showing that reintegration can be successful.