ABSTRACT
The lives of homeless and street children in the Americas are filled with light andshadow, hope and despair. The light and hope exist in each child’s human potential as well as in the existing laws, programs, and policies that form the architecture for educational and social change. The shadow and despair come from the grinding poverty that emiserates their lives, and the harsh neoliberal prescriptions for economic growth that have influenced governmental policies in the Americas during the last 2 decades.
