This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk/7044430.stm
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 0 | Version 1 |
---|---|
Call to boost runaways support | Call to boost runaways support |
(about 4 hours later) | |
A coalition of charities is urging the government to set up a national support network for young people who run away. | |
MPs are being asked to sign a petition in the shape of a giant running shoe, representing the estimated 140,000 under-18s who go missing each year. | |
Specialists are to give evidence at a series of Parliamentary hearings to highlight the problems runaways face. | |
The Children's Society said it should be recognised that a teenager facing a night on the streets was a high risk. | |
Kathy Evans, policy director at the Children's Society, said some local services were in place but it was nowhere near a national safety net. | |
When you run away, it's hard to trust people Jessica Lee, former runaway | |
She told BBC Breakfast there needed to be local services, a national helpline and a look at the way police respond when a children is reported missing and what happens when they are found. | |
Jessica Lee, who ran away from home at 13, told the programme she did not know who to turn to for help. | |
"Things were really difficult at home so I ran away," she said. | |
For three months, she stayed with her dad who she met for the first time, friends, sometimes strangers and even spent one night on the street before she found help. | |
"It got to the point where it became an addiction to me," she said. | |
"For me, social services, and anyone in authority, was the enemy. But I found out about a Children's Society project in Devon. They built the trust up with me. When you run away, it's hard to trust people." | |
'Life-saver service' | |
Paul Tuohy, chief executive of Missing People, said the issue of missing people often slipped through the cracks and off the public agenda. | |
"The national infrastructure to safeguard runaways and missing children at the moment is, in actual fact, fairly small, which might come as a surprise to most people," he said. | |
In some cases, things were so bad for these children that it led to fatalities, he said. | |
"We've really got to put it in front of the public agenda for our MPs...that the runaway helpline, the national service we offer, is actually a life-saver service." |