This study conducted in the Ahvaz Correction Centre (ACC) in 2008 explored the relationship between variables such as drug abuse and sexual abuse and homelessness among children. The sample consisted of 28 children (mean age = 14.5 years) selected by snowball sampling. Data were collected by social workers practising in the ACC. The mean age of children beginning life on the streets was 11.71 years, and the group lived on the streets, on average, for 2.69 years. The group was held in the ACC, on average, for 11.68 months. Sexual abuse and drug abuse were common behaviours among the children, and robust relationships were found between these variables and age during the first experience of shelter‐seeking. The children had committed crimes such as pick‐pocketing, sexual abuse against other children, drug addiction and drug trafficking. It was found that many of their families had a history of conflict and/or divorce and most children had a family member with a criminal record. The children were also disadvantaged by a lack of education, with illiteracy common among them and their parents. A significant relationship was established between the children's family situation and the length of their detention (r = 0.47), while children who maintained links with their family members were less likely to return to crime after release from the centre. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. ‘A history of conflict and/or divorce and most had a family member with a criminal record’ Key Practitioner Messages In this sample of street children in Iran, half had begun living on the streets before the age of 11 years.A majority of the children had engaged in criminal behaviours, particularly the misuse of drugs.Many of these children had either perpetrated or been victims of sexual abuse while living on the streets.Criminality in the family of origin was a common finding.