The Children’s Society has made an urgent appeal to the Government for a network of refuges for runaway children to be established in light of new research which reveals many missing children go unreported by their parents or carers.

|PIC1|According to the research by The Children’s Society and the University of York, two thirds of the 11,000 children between the ages of 14 – 16 say their parents or carers did not report them missing to the police.

The research, which shows no drop in the number of young runaways in the last six years, also highlighted a startling level of abuse suffered by the young runaways, with one in six saying they were forced to sleep rough or with strangers and one in 12 saying they were hurt or harmed while away from home.

The Children’s Society warned that young runaways would be more exposed to harm on the street and at greater risk of being forced into criminal activity if parents failed to report their children as missing.

The charity’s fears were supported by the results of the research, which found that one in 10 said they were forced to beg, steal or resort to ‘other dangerous survival strategies’.

The Children’s Society’s chief executive, Bob Reitemeier, has criticised the lack of refuges for runaway children. Although the local authorities in England are required to assist young runaways the support services they provide are limited or non-existent.

|QUOTE|There currently only three official refuges for runaways in the UK with a total of 10 beds, not nearly enough to help the estimated 100,000 children who run away each year, and the 8,000 children who call the Runaway Helpline each month.

The Children’s Society is calling on the Government to set up a nationwide network of refuges, open 24 hours a day and supported by trained workers to counsel the runaways.

“Ten refuge beds is not enough,” said Mr Reitemeier. “Unless the government funds a national network of refuges for runaways, thousands more children will slip into the hands of dangerous adults and be harmed.”

“The number of children who aren’t reported missing is alarmingly high. If the police are not alerted, and children stay away from home, they will be left seeking help from adults who may harm, hurt, abuse and exploit them. We need to offer them a safe alternative, and that’s why we need these refuges.”

The Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Association of Chief Police Officers, Richard Bryan has given his backing the children’s charity campaign: “I wholeheartedly support the Children’s Society campaign to improve the safety of young runaways. These youngsters are very vulnerable and a network of refuges to provide places of safety simple, practical sense.”

|TOP|Mr Bryan also urged parents and carers to report their children missing to the parents. “Early notification can make the vital difference in cases of abduction and may also prevent other harms such as abuse or becoming involved in crime,” he stressed.

“It is a surprise that there is so often a delay in the reporting of young runaways and that some of them are never reported – this only adds to the risk involved.”

A host of celebrities have gotten behind the campaign, including Ms Dynamite, George Michael, Helena Bonham Carter, Will Young and the cast of Coronation Street and Emmerdale.

The campaign also has the support of The National Missing Persons Helpline, NSPCC and existing refuge providers.

A petition signed by more than 100,000 people calling on the Government to take action on the issue of child runaways was delivered to Downing Street Monday by a group of young runaways.