Rebellious street child protected (7)
I believe the answer is:
wayward
'rebellious' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'street child protected' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'street' could be 'way' (road way) and 'way' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'ward' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for wayward that I've seen before include "Resistant to discipline" , "Perversely independent" , "Capricious and undisciplined" , "Unpredictable, wilful" , "Undisciplined, headstrong" .)