Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Since the economic crisis began, they have become a common sight at almost every major intersection in Indonesia's large cities – singing and dancing and beggar children and teenagers who make a bee-line for the most expensive cars or taxis. They usually plead "please mister" or just strum a few lines on a battered guitar until a small donation is made.

In the last three years, the number of child street beggars has doubled, but more alarming is the rise in the number of girl beggars. Poor families are no longer protecting their girls, but sending them out to earn money, said Indonesia's Asian Development Bank's Director Jan van Heeswijk.

And since children's shelters will only house boys, girls who have been cast out by their families are forced to sleep in parks, bus stations or railway stations. Once on the streets, they are forever marked as bad girls who are easily preyed upon by local hoods, said non-governmental organisation volunteer Kirik Erwanto.

According to the Asian Development Bank, a study found that girls now make up 20 per cent of the country's estimated 170,000 street children. In Yogyakarta, street children numbered 1,600 in July, of whom 400 were girls, said Mr Kirik. "Within these last three years, there has been quite a dramatic increase in female street children in Yogyakarta," he said.

Eighteen-year-old Suria Teynah knows what living on the streets is like. She spent most of her teenage years on the streets singing at intersections or selling newspapers in Yogyakarta, one of the more popular destinations for street busking.

She said that her street life gave her freedom but more than a few problems too. Like many other street kids, she started taking flu medicines, drinking vodka and sniffing glue.

"Glue sniffing is cheap and I used to enjoy it," she said. The habit nearly caused her to have a miscarriage. Looking pale but proudly clutching her one-month-old baby, she said she was now trying to turn her back on that life. She has married her boyfriend who works as a fare collector on buses, and has been accepted back home by her parents.

Suria is one of the luckier ones. Many of the other former street kids, who have found proper jobs through a shelter called Ghifari, said it would be impossible for them to return to their villages and settle back into normal life. Mr Kirik said the girls are stigmatised because they have a reputation for being wild and sexually loose.

Almost all girl street beggars have been sexually abused by other street kids as part of an initiation process and later by local boys or men who take advantage of their vulnerability, he said. Many end up as prostitutes when they become a little older, he added. Others become "mistresses" for an older, richer man.

Ani, a girl staying at the Ghifari shelter, who spent two years working and living on Yogyakarta's streets, said that street girls need protection as life on the streets is very difficult. Agreeing with her, Suria said: "The girls and boys stay together. So those that have a boyfriend are ok, but for those who don't yet, it's very dangerous."

Presently, under an aid programme funded by the Japanese government through the Asian Development Bank to target street girls, Ani will have a greater chance of leading a normal life. Shelters such as Ghifari will receive funding to provide counselling services, health care for pregnant girls and those with sexually transmitted diseases. Vocational training will also be provided.

Indonesia is struggling to recover from the country's prolonged economic crisis. The World Bank, in a report issued ahead of a crucial meeting of international donors in Tokyo last month, noted that half of Indonesia's population is either living below the poverty line or in danger of joining the swelling poor.

Rise in teen prostitution

• The economic crisis has forced a record number of children onto the streets to earn a living.
• Indonesia has also seen a dramatic increase in the number of teen prostitutes in the last three years.
• The number of children dropping out of school has risen to 6.8 million.
• The number of child workers (under 18 years) has doubled since the start of the crisis from 1.8 million to 3.6 million.
• Every year since the crisis began, some 150,000 children under 18 become prostitutes, said Mr Yaumil Agoes Achir, the vice-presidential adviser on people's welfare.
• Almost half of Indonesia's 500,000 prostitutes are under 18 years of age, and as many as 50,000 would be under 16 years old, said Dr Irwanto from the Centre for Societal Development and Studies of the Atma Jaya Catholic University.