Legal News
Charity Urges Government to Help Runaway Children (18 November 2011)
Date: 18/11/2011
A recent report released by the charity, the Children’s Society, has revealed that few runway children are reported to the police as missing. The study found that over the course of one year, 84,000 children aged 16 years old or younger ran away from their own homes in England overnight. Of these children, only 17 per cent were reported to the authorities as missing. The charity has therefore called upon the government to ensure that the plight of runaways is made a top priority.
The charity claims that one child runs away from its own home or that of a carer every five minutes. They found children who had suffered from family change or conflict to be three times more likely to leave their own homes than children who had not experienced such difficulties. Around 25 per cent of runaways were deemed to be at ‘high risk’ of danger and only five per cent sought the help of agencies such as social services or the police. The report's authors claimed that parents were unlikely to report runaways to the police if they felt they knew where their child had gone and felt that they would be safe. The charity stated that a "significant proportion" of the runaways that they have spoken to claimed to have been informed to leave home by their own parents or guardians.
Bob Reitemeier, the chief executive officer of the Children's Society, announced that the charity felt “deeply concerned” about the tens of thousands of young children who felt the need to run away from their own homes.
Duncan Lewis’ childcare law solicitors advise and represent children, parents, other relatives and children’s guardians in all childcare law proceedings. These include legal proceedings in which the local authorities have applied for care orders and emergency protection orders.