Teen Runaways | Introduction
For almost every person, the teen years can be a difficult time. School, social and extracurricular activities, jobs, and responsibilities in the home can make the average adolescent’s life hectic and overwhelming. For teen runaways, however, these problems seem insignificant. Rather than worrying about keeping up their grades in school or doing their chores at home, teens on the run must concern themselves daily with finding food and shelter. Rather than holding down an after-school job, they must panhandle or steal to make money in order to eat, and if these methods do not succeed, they often turn to drug dealing or prostitution.
Every day, teen runaways are concerned for their physical safety and must develop methods to protect themselves from violent assaults such as rape. When they do find themselves wounded or sick, their health care options are often extremely limited. Since life on the streets involves hardships that the average teenager never has to face, why do so many teens choose to run away from home each year?
There is no easy answer to this question. Teens leave home for a wide variety of reasons, including trouble in school, arguments with their family, or problems that arise due to their sexual orientation. According to Laurie Schaffner, author of Teenage Runaways: Broken Hearts and “Bad Attitudes,” runaways “may leave on impulse, protesting a family quarrel over a rule or an isolated incident.” But the main motivation for running away seems to be neglect or abuse at home. They decide that their only chance to survive is to run away, but what many of these teens learn is that they are no safer on the streets than they were with their parents or guardians. The dangers they face are often more harrowing than anything they would face at home; yet when they weigh their options, many of these teens often choose to stick it out on their own—believing they have at least some control over their lives—rather than return to an environment where they know they will be abused.
Many teens begin their lives on the run with the mistaken assumption that they are embarking on an exciting adventure. Once they hit the streets, however, they quickly discover that their lives are neither glamorous nor thrilling. Though they may meet many new and diverse individuals who seem to be trustworthy, these people are often interested in manipulating them into dealing drugs or entering into activities such as prostitution, pornography, or substance abuse. Runaways rarely find the freedom they seek. More often than not, they find themselves trapped in dangerous circumstances beyond their control.
Hope for help
Helping teen runaways get off the street is a difficult task once they become immersed in a self-destructive lifestyle, but it can be done. For example, Larkin Street Youth Services, located in San Francisco, devotes itself to providing support to teens who consider leaving the streets to become productive members of society. One of the center’s major challenges is the fact that runaways often do not want its help. The workers at Larkin Street cannot force anyone to take advantage of their services. All they can do is be available for those who are ready to change their lives.
Though agencies such as Larkin Street are invaluable resources, many people believe that the most important thing is to keep kids from running away in the first place. Education and communication are the main keys to preventing teens from running away. Organizations exist that not only teach teens about the dangers of living on the streets but also are willing to intervene in the home and help families work out their problems together. These approaches are not always successful, but many kids do change their minds about running away once they realize there are alternatives such as family counseling and foster care. Again, however, teens and their families must be willing to take the first step and seek the help they need. Family members, for example, must recognize their problems and begin to work toward correcting them by educating themselves and opening up lines of communication. Once they accept the support and encouragement they need to build healthy relationships, they are less likely to lose their teen to the streets.
