One of the biggest problems of the present society are children and youths growing up without any social ties: lost children. This is also shown by the high number of street children in Germany. A number of around 9,000 teenagers and young adults are estimated to live rough. It is likely that the number of unreported cases is considerably higher.

Reasons for the still high number of street children are for example that politics support local projects too little. A complicating factor is that street children often change their domicile within short time, but it is to the federal states and municipalities to care for homeless youths and to provide assistance for them. For quite some time, the association Straßenkinder e.V. observes a link between the growing children's poverty and the existence of street children. More and more physically inconspicuous children and youths from socially deprived families end up in the streets, at least for a certain time. And: the number of poor children in Germany is growing.