The charity's director of policy Kathy Evans describes the figure as"worryingly high". Reasons for this failure were not explored by thesurvey but Evans said the reasons were complex. "It may be that theyoung people were not aware that they'd been reported missing or theirwhereabouts may have been known by the parents," she said.
But if police are not alerted and children stay away from home, youngpeople will be left seeking help from adults who may harm them, sheadded.
The survey revealed that one in 12 young people said they were hurt orharmed while away from home.
The research forms part of the charity's campaign for a national networkof refuges for runaway children. There are only three official refugesfor runaways in the UK and Government funding for two of these ends nextMarch.
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