47

With a precarious family heritage, some young people develop socialising practices in the street hinged on an imaginary form of socialisation independent of help from adults. Research among young people from the streets of Montreal shows however that adults play an important part in transferring these young people to both « normality » and adulthood. Although their request for recognition by adults may follow very varied, sometimes ambiguous routes, it always takes on a form of coherence linked to their parental heritage.