 Children at Risk John Wheeler, Special Projects Manager for ChildLine: How long in general is the period between the child running away from home and contacting Childline? It is very difficult to give a definitive answer to this question. The reality is that it varies. The major trigger factor is when a child feels that their situation is getting out of control and they are frightened. This may occur when a child initially leaves home and realises what they have done and are frightened, hungry, and cold. Our night duty team receive many of these calls. Children will then call at other times when the situation they have been living in begins to disintegrate for them and they once again become scared and alone. Speed of response from the helping agencies is essential on these occasions as the window of opportunity for intervention is small. Childline has identified many reasons for children leaving home, what is the single most relevant cause, one that stands out above the others? Reasons for children leaving home are varied and there is no one defining cause apart from the fact that a child feels alone with their problem and unable to communicate with other people who might be able to help. For instance parents, relatives, trusted adults eg teachers or friends. Most of us have run away when we were children for a variety of reasons which may bear no relation to money and family stability. In fact many children in quite difficult family situations do not run away at all and remain in family situations when it is clearly not in their best interests to do so. When the majority of children run/leave home it is usually to a safe environment. The children we worry most about are those that do not have a family, friendship or other trusted adult that they can go to when issues become difficult at home and there is need for time out. I am a great believer in the Sure Start programme and I believe that the early research evidence is that yes indeed it is beginning to make a difference to Keith Joseph's famous 'cycle of deprivation' Voices From Childline Stephen, 16, called ChildLine in the early hours of Saturday morning. He said that his dad had kicked him out because he’d been truanting and hanging around with a gang of boys, getting into trouble. Stephen asked his ChildLine counsellor if she could phone his dad to see if he could go home and apologise – he didn’t want to speak to his dad himself. Stephen’s counsellor, Linda, did this and called Stephen back telling him that his dad had said he was very concerned about the effects of his behaviour on the rest of the family and, although he loved him, he didn’t want him home at the moment. Linda discussed Stephen’s options with him and Stephen asked her to contact social services on his behalf. She was able to arrange with social services a safe place for John to stay that night. When Hasina, 13, called ChildLine, she was frightened and confused. She told her ChildLine counsellor, Jack: ‘My dad threw me out an hour ago because he found letters from my boyfriend. Because I’m Muslim, I’m not allowed to have a boyfriend.’ She began to cry and said, ‘He told me I wasn’t allowed to go out or see my friends. My father told me that he should send me back to India and he wishes I was dead.’ Jack talked to Hasina about other adults in her life who she might feel able to talk to about her situation. She said that her older sister, who lived away from home, would probably be supportive, as she had gone through a similar situation. Hasina asked whether Jack would talk to her sister with her and Jack set up a three-way call in which they talked about the problem together. Hasina’s sister suggested that she stay with her for the night and said that they would go and talk to their father first thing the next morning. Get Connected Josh, 15, called Get Connected from Cornwall. He was very scared and upset, as he had nowhere to stay that night. Josh often spent the night at his brother’s house as their mum was an alcoholic and was very aggressive when she had been drinking. On this occasion Josh’s brother was away and he had nowhere else to go. The helpline worker explained that Josh’s options were limited but Social Services may be able to help. Josh didn’t want to speak to Social Services as his mum had lied to them in the past, so he decided to be connected to a child protection helpline. Josh was also texted the details of a local youth information shop that he could visit in the morning. Kelly, 13, was given Get Connected’s number by ChildLine. Kelly was calling from a payphone in London as she had left home earlier that evening after a violent row with her dad. The helpline worker explained her options were limited because it was late and Kelly agreed to be connected to the Social Services Emergency Duty Team. Kelly was advised to return home for the evening and see her social worker in the morning. Kelly called Get Connected back as she was too scared to return home. Kelly decided to be connected to the London Refuge, a unique emergency refuge for young people who have run away and are homeless on the streets of London. Runaway Helpline Rachel, 14, called the Runaway Helpline early in the morning and said she had run away from home due to an argument. She was too scared to contact her mum directly because she thought she was going to be put into a Children's Home. Runaway Helpline initially put a message through to Rachel's mum to say she was OK and her mum passed a message back to Rachel saying "I love you and please talk to me". Following this message Rachel agreed to a three way call to her mum and during the call told her mum where she was. Mum arranged to go and pick up Rachel and we stayed on the line talking to Rachel until mum turned up. John, 11, called at 3am to the Runaway Helpline and was very distressed and upset. He said he had been forced to leave home by mum and said this had happened to him before. John had a Social Worker and we contacted the emergency duty team of Social Services for him who rang him in the Telephone Box and organised to pick him up. He rang back later to tell us he was ok and said he had seen our freefone number on a children's TV programme. John called us again a few months later – this time he had run away from his foster carer's house. When John called us he had been away for 4 days and was with a friend. He agreed to a three way call to his foster carer who had already reported him missing to the Police. John broke down on the call and agreed to let the foster carer collect him and his friend. |
