Abstract: This paper presents a comparative analysis of the typical patterns of rescuing street children in China and abroad and gives an account of the major problems in the countrys system for street children rescue. It is proposed that the involvement of social work in street children rescue, with its “peopleoriented” value and professional methods of helping people, can contribute to the prevention of streetchildren problems on the macro, medium and microaspects and the discovery of a shortcut to building a system for street children rescue that combines society, government, schools and families and tackles with both the cause and the effect of the problem.

Key words:  street children, social work, rescue