children in especially difficult circumstances (CEDC), and are considered the most threatened of all children in CEDC. It is estimated that there are more than 400,000 street children in India. According to UNICEF, street children can be broken up into four sections: at-risk children who live with family but work on the streets for income, children who primarily stay on the street but have some residence with family, children who spend most of their lives on the street and do not live with or contact family, and finally abandoned children who are on their own with no adult figures. Children flee homes of poverty, violence, oppression and exploitation and eventually reside on the streets. Children are often privy to exploitation and physical and mental abuse due to familial stress, depression, and excessive alcohol use. When they run away from their families to find a better life, children face prostitution and physical labor. Children as young as 6 sift through garbage seeking money to buy food. Furthermore, children live on the streets as a result of urbanization, poverty, unemployment, alcoholic families, death of parents, bad relationships with new parents, and drug use. Street children often have bad performance and behavior issues in school and may eventually drop out, leading to low literacy. They are stripped of their right to education and recreation. This ties into a cycle perpetuating poverty and homelessness. Street children have more physical and mental health issues than non-street children. Assuming children will ask for bribes, hospitals abstain services, increase prices, or refuse them proper care. These issues can cause street children to become depressed or antisocial with negative approaches to life. Street children suffer from multiple forms of abuse. Most experience verbal and psychological abuse, some experience general abuse and neglect, fewer suffer from health abuse, and a small number from physical (including sexual) abuse. Data shows that high levels of one type of abuse are correlated with high levels of another, with amount of abuse increasing with age and income. Often, abuse comes from police or manipulative employers and occupations. Additionally, studies show that boys are more abused than girls on the streets. Finally, abuse can stem from children with hierarchy on the streets. Members of a group help protect each other to survive. However, older member often abuse the younger children. Homelessness and poverty are the main causes of child labor in India. Census 2011