Stephen Leach, Team leader, Talk Don't Walk, Warrington.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Young people do not run away if they are happy. They often run away because they feel they cannot express themselves or they are not being heard. They act in desperation and think of the consequences later. My role is to help them think about the future.
If a young person is reported missing, the police do their investigation, but once they are back home we can get involved. We will contact the young person and their parent or guardian but the focus has to be on the young person.
A lot of the work is about building a rapport. If young people have dealt with agencies in the past then we could have our work cut out, but until you have a rapport with them you can't get to the root of what's going on.
Gaining trust can be hard. The majority of runaways are aged 13 to 17, but some are as young as 10. They are desperate so your initial meeting has to mean something or they won't come back. Their options may sound bleak but we can give them resources to move forward.
We put an action plan in place with the young person, which is all about safeguarding them and meeting their needs. We have reduced the rate of runaways in Warrington by 76 per cent in three years.
You have to be able to help parents too. People's lives can be quite chaotic and they forget about the impact on the children. Parents think that if children are fed and clothed and off to school then it's okay but, with peer pressure and their bodies changing, it's a very confusing time for teenagers.
The government has recently announced more money for runaway projects and we could do some good with that. We could expand the project beyond Warrington and develop services to a higher level. The team here has so much experience and we have finely honed processes that allow us to deal very quickly with young people at risk.
