'Safety net' aid for young runaways

Changes include plans for a network of safe places across the country where runaways can find shelter; new guidance for local authorities on how to deal with the needs of children who have run away from home; and the introduction of trained police and council workers with specific responsibility to support them.

Research published by the Children's Society suggests that just 12% of local authorities have services targeted at runaways, and around half have no protocol for managing cases where children run away from home, though most (93%) did for children who go missing from care homes.

The Children's Society has campaigned for 20 years for better services to support runaways, warning that they are at heightened risk of sexual exploitation, violence and drug taking once they quit their homes.

Girls aged 14 to 15 are the group most likely to run away, but boys are more likely to sleep on the streets, putting themselves at greater risk of being hurt.

Around one in nine of all children in England will spend at least one night away from home before their 16th birthday, many of them sleeping rough, staying with a stranger, begging or stealing in order to survive. Some 8% told the Children's Society that they had been hurt when they last ran away and 68% said their parents or carers did not report them missing to police.

Children's Secretary Ed Balls is expected to announce a three-pronged strategy, featuring:

Safe Places - a speedy review of how local authorities can provide safe places for runaways; Safe Procedures - including guidance for local authorities and a new national indicator on young runaways and Safe People - including roles and responsibilities for individual officials supporting young runaways.

Children's Society chief executive Bob Reitemeier said: "The announcement of a cross-departmental group to take responsibility for this group of children is fantastic news, and made possible by successful collaboration between the Government, police, local authorities and many other children's charities.

"We can now finally say that these children are a priority in our society. We look forward to helping design a national network of safe accommodation and preventative measures that will ensure the childhoods of young runaways are protected and not forgotten."