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Runaways1
Lance Carroll and Suzanna Smith2Imagine a football stadium on a Saturday afternoon, filled to capacity-80,000 people cheering on their college or hometown team. Sadly, the same number of people who pack such a stadium are the number of youth who run away from home in the United States every month.
Every year, more than one million youth run away from home. Some estimates predict that the number of youth living on the streets is as high as 1.6 million. According to a report in the American Journal of Family Therapy, researchers found that youth who run away come from families marked by marital instability, alcohol abuse, parental incompetence, financial problems, and physical and sexual abuse.
Several dangers and risk factors face the youth once they leave home. Many youths in search of money and shelter turn to prostitution. Some engage in petty theft, while others sell drugs and are involved in abusing these drugs. These deviant behaviors often lead to street-related violence.
Youths who run away feel that there is a better world outside of their families. Many are reunited with their parents, only to run away again. If the issues that caused the youth to run away the first time are not resolved, they are likely to run again. Friends or parents who are concerned about children who may be at risk of running should contact the National Runaway Switchboard at 1-800-621-4000 or go to http://www.1800runaway.org or your local crisis center for professional help.
Listening, learning, and living together: it's the science of life. "Family Album" is a co-production of University of Florida IFAS Extension, the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences and of WUFT-FM. If you'd like to learn more, please visit our Web site at http://www.familyalbumradio.org .
To listen to the radio broadcast:
http://www.radiosource.net/radio_stories/runaways.mp3
http://www.radiosource.net/radio_stories/runaways.wav
Footnotes
1. This document is FAR7500, one of a series of the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. First published December 2007. In the interest of time or clarity, the broadcast version of this script may have been modified. Please visit the EDIS Web site at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.2. Lance Carroll, undergraduate student, and Suzanna Smith, associate professor, Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, University of Florida, and Executive Producer, Family Album Radio, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611.
The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Larry Arrington, Dean.
Copyright Information
This document is copyrighted by the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) for the people of the State of Florida. UF/IFAS retains all rights under all conventions, but permits free reproduction by all agents and offices of the Cooperative Extension Service and the people of the State of Florida. Permission is granted to others to use these materials in part or in full for educational purposes, provided that full credit is given to the UF/IFAS, citing the publication, its source, and date of publication.