Our 16 year old granddaughter ran away
from home in Missouri a couple of days
ago. She is not alone.
- One in seven children between
the ages of 10 and 18 will run away
- Some will return within a few days;
others remain on the streets never to
return
- An estimated 1.3 million youth are on
the streets each day
- Assaults, illness or suicide will take the
lives of 5,000 runaway youth each year
- The median age for the cycle of
running is 14 years old
- Most runaway youths remain away
from home between one month and one
year
We were very lucky because some of our
granddaughter's friends were willing to
help out and through text messages kept
us informed of where she was headed.
This enabled her parents to contact the
authorities at her destination and our
granddaughter was picked up by the
police in New York.
Now the issue became how do we get her
back
home to Missouri and how will her parents
be able to keep her there?
I found an organization that will help out
with a FREE bus ticket. It's called the
Home Free Program . 1.800.RUNAWAY.
There are many other organizations out
there that will help in various ways, I am in
the process of getting a list together and
putting up a website to help people in
similar situations.
If you know of any groups or organizations
that help runaways or families of runaways
please contact me
at
cmmdtp@gmail.com .
It turned out that her parents decided to
drive to New York and pick her up
themselves to bring her back home again.
A couple of valuable lessons learned here
are:
- Know your children's friends and
how to contact them
- Have a recent picture of your child
handy for authorities
- Know where to go for help if
something like this should happen
Much more coming soon on this
subject as it is near and dear to my
heart. If you have helpful info on runaways
and resources please let me know.
Here are a few helpful organization links:
National Runaway Switchboard
Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency
Prevention
National
Center for Missing & Exploited
Children
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