The majority of street children live under conditions of severe deprivation which places them at both physical and psychological risk. Inadequate nutrition, long work- ing hours, exposure to aversive weather conditions, and physical abuse while on the streets, endanger their physical, mental and social development. Since the fall of the Derg regime in 1991, there have been widespread fears that the number of children abandoned on the streets has escalated. This phenomenon is exacerbated by high in- flation rates, increased urban poverty, and lifted restrictions on the movements