This article evaluates and analyses the experience of so-called street-children in Ireland and Sudan. It first outlines a categorisation of street-children based on differing degrees of street-life involvement. Historical evidence is then presented on the emergence of street children in Sudan and Ireland, and this is followed by comparing and contrasting Sudanese and Irish street children with respect to background, social- demographic characteristics and processes of street-life involvement. It concludes that for developing a conceptual model of street children, what is needed is an understanding of how certain behaviour patterns which might appear pathological can, in fact, have adaptive and rational properties.