Alert over the child runaways stalked by predators

Alarming data uncovered by the Children’s Society show that runaways are getting younger, with rising numbers of pre-teen children in “grave danger”.

Project workers, who have most commonly worked with 13- and 14-year-olds in the past, revealed they were supporting more 11- and 12-year-olds and, in some cases, children much younger.

Many runaways are being targeted in public places, such as parks and bus stations, by adults and increasingly their peers, but police, social workers and other agencies who work with children are unaware of the scale of the problem, the charity found.

Its report, Make Runaways Safe, suggests a quarter of child runaways are “forced” to leave their homes and two-thirds of cases go unreported.

A previous national survey by the charity has estimated that more than 100,000 children run away from home or care each year – one every five minutes.

Dealing with all but the most serious cases already costs £82m a year. The impact is even greater in cases where children become involved in serious offending to survive.

Children’s Society chief executive Bob Reitemeier said: “We can’t wait a moment longer. Every child who runs away should run to safety.

“Society is failing young runaways, condemning tens of thousands of children to misery and danger by failing to provide an adequate safety net.

“We call on the Government to urgently put a national action plan in place. The charity is calling for a national safety net to be put in place for every child who runs away.”

Currently one in six runaways ends up sleeping rough, one in eight resorts to begging or stealing to survive and one in 12 is hurt or harmed.

Many are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation because of increased use of mobile telephones with cameras and social networking sites.

One project worker based in the North told the report’s authors about the dangers of “online cameras, where guys are starting to develop relationships with young people and quite often pretending to be a lot younger than they are”.

He said: “Children start taking photographs or allowing themselves to be seen on online cameras, then recording all that.

“Initially there may be some financial reward, then what you have more and more is the threat that every time a young person tries to say, ‘No, I don’t want to do this any more’, there is a certain amount of ‘Well, imagine what your teachers and friends will say about this...just two more and then you are free’.”

Running away seemed like “the only solution” for one Yorkshire teenager who is now receiving support from the charity after repeatedly fleeing her chaotic and volatile home life.

The 16-year-old Keighley girl, who asked not to be named, was 12 when she first went missing.

“Everyone was arguing and I couldn’t stand it so I took off,” she said. “Sometimes you just have to get out. My mum called the police, and they brought me back. I’ve stayed out for a week, two weeks, staying on people’s floors or sofas. I don’t like running away, I get lonely, I miss my family but sometimes it just gets too much.”

A Department for Education spokesman said the Government was investing £2.2bn this year for local authorities to spend on services to protect vulnerable children, adding: “Runaways typically face very complex issues. Local authorities are responsible for targeted support for children and young people at risk of substance misuse, youth crime, teenage pregnancies – to address the root causes and consequences of running away.”