In Monrovia we have identified twelve definite communities or community areas. In each of these areas we have appointed a monitor who has a specific role, namely:

• to follow up children who have been re-unified in the community either from a warring faction or from the street and check on their progress.
• to identify other children in the community who are at risk in any way.
• to network with the community through its leaders, to raise their awareness of children's rights and also to advocate for the children when necessary.
• to identify for reference the medical, educational and social resources which are available in the community.

Don Bosco Homes is responsible for the principal urban centres. These include Monrovia, Kakata, Buchanan, Gbarnga, Ganta, Tappita, Bomi Hills and Harper. ‘Save The Children’ are overseeing the rural areas. In Buchanan where the system is already established it is showing signs of really being a way of protecting children. In the past month alone the monitors have ‘rescued’ eight children aged between 8 and 14 years from prison They have conducted workshops for the police and security forces to make them aware of what is going on. Now no child is left in prison overnight. Instead they send for ‘Don Bosco’! A small but significant start!

Although the work is shared out in this way the task is still a huge one. Many of the monitors soon asked what more could be done for these children at risk, while the process of educating the community and being accepted by them was going on. It was then that someone came up with the bright idea of giving the children a document that establishes them as citizens, people with rights - the street passport was born.

The street passport has different names but the idea has proved very successful in other countries such as Honduras and Mexico. Children who have no birth certificates or any form of identification are easy prey to many forms of exploitation. They are non-persons with no rights. The street passport, we hope, will be a  way of establishing them as people with rights, and so give them some better protection.

The format of the passport is in three parts.

• Firstly there is the information and photograph of the child,
• Secondly extracts from The Convention on the Rights of the Child together with advice on how to keep safe
• Thirdly a message to anyone who stops or tries to harass the child telling them the child is registered with Don Bosco Homes as well as being protected by the Convention and the laws of Liberia.

We are estimating that in this first year of it's use almost one and a half thousand children will receive a passport. They will first be trained how to use it. Use of it basically involves the child in knowing what his/her rights are and the responsibilities that go with them, keeping in regular contact with their social worker and reporting any loss or damage to it.