TEHRAN -- Children's House is a shelter for Tehran's street children. These children live in this house part of the time. At the center they can play like other children living in families and forget about the difficult conditions of their lives for a short time.

Children's House is built in the style of traditional houses. It was vacant for some time, but was turned into a street children's shelter through the efforts of the Society for the Protection of Children's Rights and Tehran Municipality officials.

The children under the protection of the center are forced to work because of economic and social problems.

The managing director of Children's House, Fatemeh Panahi, said that the center opened in February 2001 in southern Tehran. She added that 130 boys and girls without parents or with bad parents live and are brought up at the center.

Panahi said that Children's House was established to fill the spare time of children and young adults, adding that benevolent people make financial contributions to the center.

The establishment of such centers is a very effective way to help street children stay psychologically and physically healthy.

Centers like this can continue their work only through the combined efforts of the general public and the government.

Children's House helps children who were born in poor families or orphaned through no fault of their own and live in a world that has mostly forgotten them.