In 1991 Ukraine proclaimed its independence after collapse of the
Soviet Union. The process was followed by transition to
free market economy and rapid social changes, like impoverishment of population, high unemployment, and subsequently — sky-rocketing
juvenile delinquency, wide spread of
street drugs and adolescent suicides during the mid-1990s. Living on the streets exposes the youngsters to a wide number of risk factors, and due to their effect the great part of the infants falls behind in the schooling. The main risks of street life in Ukraine are physical and sexual violence, drug abuse, malnutrition, police abuse and harassment, risky sexual activity, forced sex, unintended pregnancy, and different kinds of infections, like
HIV,
tuberculosis,
STDs and
hepatitis. The risks contribute to the psychological and emotional condition of the street youngsters instigating among them traumatism, depressions, sense of isolation, and insufficient
self-esteem. In addition, their opportunities to make a living are very limited by beggary, collection of empty bottles and so on. As a result their everyday surviving can be characterized as deviation from the ethical norms of the civil society since the street children tend to be inclined to criminal activities (
theft,
robbery and
property damage), vagrancy, substance abuse and
prostitution regardless of their gender. It was reported that the use of drugs among Ukrainian homeless minors acquired a special meaning of symbolic ritual. In order to strengthen their subgroup solidarity they have developed a ceremony to inject a so called
baltrushka (mixture of vinegar, water and flu medicine) up to six times a day. Another popular method of drug taking in Ukraine is inhaling glue. The uncontrolled use of
injection drugs, sharing needles and unprotected sex make the street children extremely vulnerable to HIV. The spread of HIV among the Ukrainian street children attracted a lot of special research interest due to their way of life. The available data show that the street children and youth of the major cities make up about 33 % of total population at risk. Testing of HIV samples collected in different Ukrainian cities demonstrates that HIV prevalence among street children may be as high as 50 %. According to the obtained data around 15.5% of street minors in Ukraine used the injected drugs at least once, 9.8% of boys reported
anal sex experience when only 36 % of them acknowledged using condom during their most recent sexual encounter. An access of the street minors to public health services in Ukraine is a serious problem too due to cumbersome bureaucratic protocol and negative attitude of the medical personnel to the homeless people. Some providers of the health services may refuse to treat them or provide just a limited treatment only in life-threatening condition. Ukrainian Police for Minors treats the street children as "potential criminals". The police attitude towards the youngsters may include sexual harassment and physical violence. According to some reports around 75 % of the Ukrainian street children have experienced a harassment from the police and 41 % have been harassed more than three times in the past year. ==Available statistics==