On the third day of May last year, Julian Maldonado and his wife was convicted of forcing a runaway minor to engage in prostitution, which resulted in the teenager contracting hepatitis and the human immunodeficiency virus. The man was jailed for 10 years, with his spouse getting eight. The case also highlighted the growing problem of runaways, something many countries have been grappling with.
There are many reasons why a child would run away from their house, or any alternative care facility such as a group and foster homes. Some may be kidnapped by strangers or absent parents; others are chased away by their legal caregivers, and not allowed to come back. There is a small group who simply overstay their visits. A large majority, however, leave willingly, their goal being never to come back.
Going by data made available by the American government, there were slightly over one and half million runaways in 1999. Most fall into the fifteen to seventeen year old age bracket. Very few were below fourteen. While kids from any socioeconomic background can run away from home, the large majority come from lower income and working class backgrounds. Experts speculate that the pressure of dealing with resource constraints may be underlying this fact.
The data also shows that children from alternative care facilities are more likely to escape than those from normal family backgrounds. Older kids are more likely to take off than younger ones, and the chances of that happening are highest in the first few months after placement. Those who run away from foster homes are more likely to go farther away than their counterparts from normal backgrounds.
The image many people have in their minds of children who have escape from home is of someone fending for themselves on the streets. Strictly speaking, this is not true; most teenagers take off to the home of a friend or relative they can trust. A very small number do end up homeless, and it is this category that gives headaches to law enforcement agencies, as they are most likely to end up in the hands of criminal gangs and other unsavory characters, and are likely to end engaging in criminal activity themselves.
While a variety of law enforcement agencies are concerned with the problem of street kids, they rarely assign high priority to such incidents. Police officers feel that most guardians are unable to discipline their children, and leave that responsibility to the criminal justice system. Also, most minors that take off from home rarely want to go back; if that is done by force, they simply go back to the streets.
Most law enforcement stations lack the facilities to hold runaway teenagers, as they are primarily made to handle lawbreakers. This makes many police officers to steer clear of the paperwork involved, since most have more serious crimes to follow up on.
Teenagers who run away from home generally suffer from low self esteem and depression, and this constantly leads them to engage in risky behaviour such as unprotected sex, taking drugs and so on. Most of these problems stem from a child’s background, and that is the best place to solve them. This will prevent such people as Julian Maldonado preying on them.
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