Councils urged to sign up to runaways charter

The charter, which is intended to act as a code for agencies with a duty to protect children who go missing from home and care, asks councils to provide all children with information on “safe places” where they can get support.

The charter states that every local authority should have a set of protocols for preventing children from running away in the first place and dealing with incidents as soon as they happen.

Meanwhile, it appeals to local authorities to improve the way in which they count the number of children who run away and regularly analyse the data “to look for trends and hotspots”.

The charter was co-written by former young runaways with direct experience of running away from home or care.

The charity warned that there is a huge disparity in the amount and type of support available for young runaways in different parts of the country.

It argued that “most local councils don’t have a clear idea of the numbers of children going missing”, while only around one in 20 seek help from agencies when they run away, many of who say they don’t feel protected by professionals.

According to research conducted as part of The Children’s Society’s Make Runaways Safe campaign, one in six young runaways end up sleeping rough, one in eight resort to begging or stealing to survive and one in twelve are hurt or harmed as a direct result of running away.

Matthew Reed, chief executive of The Children’s Society, urged every local authority in England to sign up to the charter.

“Every five minutes a young person runs away from home or care and is at great risk of harm and exploitation,” he said. “There is no proper safety net to ensure they are protected - this urgently needs to change.”