ANALYSIS: Runaways - Safety net for runaways
TIM BURKE
Wednesday, January 15, 2003
Responses to the problem of young runaways have typically been limited to isolated examples of good practice. Now that the Governments Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) has turned its gaze to the issue, there is reason to believe we will see a more systematic approach.The SEUs new report, Young Runaways, lays out a plan to create a safety net of services. It proposes action to prevent young people running away from home and ensure the immediate safety of those who do. It also seeks to develop initiatives that support vulnerable 16 and 17-year-olds in making the transition to independent living.Around 70,000 young people run away every year, including some 20,000 who are under 11. The SEU works with a broad definition of a young person under 18 who spends one night or more away from the family home or care without permission, or has been forced to leave by their parents or carers. On this basis it reckons this is an issue that affects one in nine young people by the time they are 16. Whether they run or are pushed, running away is usually a sign that something serious is wrong. Young runaways are five times more likely than their peers to have drug problems, three times more likely to be truanting and seven times more likely to have been physically abused. Most do not run far or for long. But one in four is likely to sleep rough or in unsafe places and an estimated 5,000 a year will resort to stealing, begging or prostitution. The need for early intervention to stop recurrence is clear. The SEUs report requires local authorities to make planning for runaways part of new local preventive strategies and improve the identification of those at risk of running away, especially for those in care. In addition, a schools pack on running away will be developed, backed up with more sources of information for teachers and youth workers and local information campaigns.To improve the safety of runaways, the report calls for more use of foster carers, greater helpline capacity, a pilot programme of community-based emergency accommodation, and a named individual in every local authority to lead on runaways. The report has been hailed by the Childrens Society as a victory for its 21-year campaign to get officialdom to take notice. When we started campaigning this was just not seen as an issue, and no one even counted young runaways then, says Patricia Durr of the Childrens Society. This is the first Government that has ever acknowledged its importance and we consider it a huge achievement just to have got this far. But as always, concerns still remain. The report is long on coordination of services, but shorter on bricks, mortar and youth-work jobs. The Childrens Society welcomes the focus on local authorities to take more responsibility, but doesnt want to let central government off the hook when it comes to providing a service. Questions also remain about whether the report pays enough attention to specific issues such as gay and lesbian young people and sensitive cultural matters including young Asian women who flee forced marriages. The important thing is that the Government has now declared this a priority, says Durr. But of course it remains an issue that will have to be balanced against other priorities. Well be monitoring progress closely. The full report and a summary of Young Runaways can be found on the web site www.socialexclusionunit.gov.uk.