"Did you know ?"

Six to seven thousand calls are made each year to judicial branch  agencies in Connecticut concerning adolescents who have runaway, are out of control of their parents, are rebellious or truant in addition, the National Runaway Switchboard logged roughly five hundred calls from runaways in New York. National research indicates that:

•73% of runaways are female

• the average age of runaway is 14-16 yrs old.

• 50% of runaways return home within 3 days or less.

• rough 50% of runaways have more than once.

• 80% of runaway and homeless girls reported having ever been sexually or physically abused.

Research indicates that most runaway flee dysfunctional families and stressful environments. For these families, life has become unmanageable. Family functioning has broken down for the adolescent, the parent, or both.

Roughly thirty percent of runaways flee physical of sexual abuse in their home while the remaining seventy percent runaway from households with other serious problems.

Household problems include drug abuse and alcoholism as well frequent changes in parental relationships and household partners. Other problems are related to divorce, step parents blended families, prolonged job loss, sickness, and death. 

Problems at school, conflicts over the adolescent's sexual activity or gender preference , curfew and friends are major sources of tension. Excessive pressure and high expectations also leads to conflicts between parents and adolescents.