One Thursday evening, 16-year-old Lorraine turned up at the youth club saying she had left home and had no intention of returning. She was planning to sleep in the park that night. I arranged for her to stay with another of the older girls who came to the club, explaining we would try to "sort out" Lorraine's situation the following morning.
The next day, after numerous phone calls, we found some emergency hostel accommodation on the other side of town, and I took Lorraine there. Throughout the journey I asked her to call her parents to tell them she was safe, but she refused to do this. She said she might ring them on Friday evening, but then again she might not. I suggested an alternative: would she mind if I went over to see her parents to say that she was safe, so long as I did not divulge her whereabouts. Lorraine agreed to this, so after getting her settled in at the hostel I went to her parents' house.
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