Charity warns over young runaways

One child runs away from home or care every five minutes, the Children's Society found

Published: 12:23am, 15th November 2011
Updated: 9:15am, 15th November 2011

Tens of thousands of children run away from home every year in England but only a small minority are reported to the police as missing by their parents, according to a report.

One child runs away from home or care every five minutes, with 84,000 under 16-year-olds running away overnight on at least one occasion every year in England, a study for the Children's Society has found.

Only 17% of runaways said they were reported to the police as missing, with a further 13% unsure as to what their parents had done.

Family conflict and change in family structure were "significant" factors in children's decisions to run away, the report found. Children who had experienced family change and conflict over the past year were three times as likely to run away as those who had not.

A quarter of runaways were at "high risk" of harm as they may be hurt, sleep rough or beg and steal to survive, the research found. But only 5% of runaways sought help from agencies such as the police and social services.

The report's authors said parents might not report runaway children as missing to the police because they knew where they were and felt they were safe. They might also reject police involvement, it said. A "significant proportion" of young runaways had been told to leave home by their parents.

The report drew on research into more than 7,300 children aged 14 to 15 in schools across England and has been published as part of the charity's Make Runaways Safe campaign. The findings are the third in a series of national surveys started in 1999 by the charity into child runaways. The charity said "little" has improved for children who run away in England over this period.

Children's Society chief executive Bob Reitemeier called for the Government to make the plight of runaway children a "top" priority. "We are deeply concerned that tens of thousands of children are still running from home or care," he said. "Huge numbers are putting themselves in very dangerous situations. One child in this situation is one child too many."

A Department for Education spokesman said: "Runaways typically face very complex issues. Local authorities are responsible for targeted support for families with complex needs and young people at risk of substance misuse, youth crime and teenage pregnancies - which can be the root causes and consequences of running away.

"We are funding councils £2.2 billion this year through the Early Intervention Grant to invest directly in services to safeguard vulnerable children and young people. And we are working with a range of charities and organisations to strengthen national support to help them do this - through Frank drug support charity; family support services and the Missing People charity."