 | Caretakers know the whereabouts of many "missing" children—the problem is recovering them |
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| Caretakers know the whereabouts of many "missing" children—the problem is recovering them |
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Who are runaways, and what happens when they are away?In a 1988 national incidence study, parents or guardians of runaways who were gone overnight provided information about the runaways and their experiences while gone. Most runaways were teenage girls (58%); most were 16 or 17 years old (68%). Most came from families that were or had been broken; only 28% lived with both (natural or adoptive) parents. Most runaways initially stayed with someone they knew (66%) or did so at some time during the episode (94%). Some had spent time in unfamiliar or dangerous situations: 29% spent at least part of the episode without a familiar and secure place to stay, and 11% spent at least one night without a place to sleep. Many runaways returned home within a day or two, but about half (52%) were gone for 3 days or more, and 25% were gone for a week or more. For about half of the runaways, the caretaker knew the child's whereabouts more than half of the time the child was away from home. Many runaways had run away before, with 34% having run away at least once before in the past 12 months. Some traveled a long distance; approximately 16% went more than 50 miles from home during the episode, and about 10% went more than 100 miles. Who are thrownaways, and what happens when they are away? About half of thrownaway children were runaways whose parents or guardians made no effort to recover them, and about half were directly forced to leave home. Parents of thrownaway children reported that most (84%) were 16 years old or older. The vast majority stayed with friends at least part of the time while they were away (88%), although 13% spent at least one night without a place to sleep. A majority (68%) returned home within 2 weeks. For about three-quarters of thrownaway children, the caretaker knew the child's whereabouts more than half of the time the child was away from home. Who are abducted children, and what happens when they are taken? Parents of children abducted by a family member reported that most of these children were young: 33% were 2 to 5 years old, and 28% were 6 to 9 years old. Most were returned within a week: 62% were returned in 6 days or less, and 28% were returned in 24 hours or less. For just over half of children abducted by a family member, the caretaker knew the child's whereabouts more than half of the time the child was away from home. Many family abductions appeared to fall into the "serious" category, with the abducting parent:
Who are other missing children, and what happens when they are missing? Most lost or otherwise missing children tended to fall into one of two age groups: 4 years old or younger (47%) or 16 to 17 years old (34%). Of those incidences where the reason was known, most (57%) were missing for "benign" reasons (such as the child's forgetting the time or misunderstandings between parents and children about when the latter would return or where they would be). The next largest group (28%) involved children who had been injured while they were away from home. Nearly all of these children had returned within 24 hours.
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