The Runaway Problem

foreign [Music] Runaways every year over 1 million American young people run from home from 10 to 17 they come from every part of America every racial and economic group with one aim in mind to find their dream and to escape the hard times at home [Music] but it isn't long before the trouble at home Fades before life on the street the truth is the street is a nightmare of brutality and runaways become victims of the terror it holds telling someone they are still alive becomes very important hello Mrs Thomas this way hotline try to runaways back with their parents by transferring messages back and forth we've had a call from a boy who says he's your son Steve he's 15 he's been away from home for two weeks and he says he has a cat named longy is that your son okay this is a message he asked for us to give to you he said tell Mom and Dad that I'm okay I love them tell Susan my girlfriend I love her don't worry and I'll keep in touch [Music] I'm 15 years old and I started running away when I was 12. it was real hard for me to be at home it's kind of a feeling of Independence at first and then it starts getting to be a drag on the street you don't see anything but junkies and pimps and I mean they're everywhere and people always I mean you can't walk down the street in like a normal everyday person like in this neighborhood saying because you walk down the street and you know there's always a pimp or a trick or somebody that'll come by and say hey baby you know give you a bunch of hasses those who stay on the street are beaten raped tortured and some are killed underage having no skills all must steal or prostitute themselves to make money and they have to make money to survive I just stand on street corners bombing or Still Still somebody's stuff sell it just you know roll somebody just any way you can get some money all right you know there's somebody trying to kind your money out of you it's it's either you're trying to get their money they're trying to get yours sort of you know survival of the fittest because you don't want to do anything good money then you just never get anything [Music] and how everybody else will just do whatever they could for money I couldn't see myself doing it then I realized it wasn't all like everybody had pictureded me that you could come and go and but you can't without money or someplace to live when the hardships of the street become unbearable runaways seek shelter one of the first places they turn is the runaway hotline the hotline gets them off the streets and into a shelter and if the runaway desires gets them back in touch with their home [Music] or if they need like a place to stay or medical help or something like that we give them referral in their local area I need to take a personal event or situation it'll help us to identify you to your mom and dad like oh your mom's maiden name or funded by a grant from the Governor's Office of the State of Texas The Runaway hotline handles thousands of calls monthly from all over the nation the hard line has two objectives one relay messages that runaways want given to parents and two get young people off the streets and into one of the 600 shelters located throughout the United States the hotline attaches no strings to the service [Music] just as The Runaways differ in age and economic status so do the parents while the life of a runaway is frantic filled with Terror and brutality the life of the parent is tedious slower paced each minute filled with anxiety and fear for their child's safety hours are spent in waiting waiting in anger and fear worried and ridden with guilt they want to rush for help but must wait helplessly you go through such a state of Horror while you're lying in the bad thinking um where is she in the middle of the night who in the world could she possibly be with I think every weird story I have ever read or in the newspaper or anything I've ever seen on television probably flies through my mind as far as her mutilated body being kicked on a ditch somewhere I I walked from one end of my house to the other end thinking I was cleaning house but I was doing nothing but wiping off the same spot on the kitchen counter that was clean and yet the dirty dishes were piling to the ceiling and I wasn't even aware of what was going on around me because my my mind and my thoughts were completely um engrossed in where my child was who she was with and why had she done this the first thing I I said to myself is why had she done this to me to us as parents but the more you the more you're able to come to your senses you might say you realize it's not what they've done to you but what they're doing to themselves Laura is has not come home does not want to come home we still have to deal every day with this fact how can we help you okay what's your name establishing a link between runaway and parent the 24-hour hotline volunteers provide the parent with comfort and support without betraying confidences yes she is a runaway is she 15 years old she's been gone two weeks okay she's left some identification and a message for you we don't know where she is we have toll-free watch lines we don't know their location no we don't know that as your maiden name Johnson did you take a trip to Canada when Terry was eight years old okay this is her message I'm all right I love you both but I had to have time to think you think you can call us back tonight and get a reaction from the phone often runaways and parents are reunited and yet sometimes despite all efforts the reunion may be too late I miss you so I left a message for her we loved and we went we wanted what it was we wanted a home and she left to practice the same message that she wanted to come home then but she didn't know so I sent a message back to her that we wanted a home and just call us let us know where she's at and we'd send her the money she came home right after her birthday was February 26th and the next time I heard from him we've sent a plane ticket and she came home and my daughter was talking to me she was could talk then she was coherent and she knew what she was saying the whole time and she was telling me about being on drugs and how it was and how she got started and uh then I don't know sometime up in the morning she started going to deliriums and she got to the point she only knew me oh she couldn't see her mama Hug Me Mama kissed me and said don't get going mommy don't leave me and it went on like that for about 24 hours I was the only one who knew her sister came in and took care of him bathed her because her sister's a nurse and she stayed with me and the whole family was in and out but she didn't know anyone but me I think it's the second day that she went into a coma and she never came out of it [Music] you think that is one of you if what in the world could have done different you know to make things different but I don't know I don't know if anything I could have done any different for to help her my son is they still won't talk about her and if you mention her name and think they leave the room because they they can't accept the fact that this is dead and my daughter's is almost the same way it's like she's run away again because she ran away so many times that we keep looking forward to come back we're keeping phone rings you expect to hear her on the other end of the phone but she's all right you know and then she's gonna come home deep in your heart you know she'll never come home again She'll always be part of us with her but she'll never be back and we know that [Music] I can't accept the feeling that she's gone because when the phone rings sometime at night and the phone ring and it's like she's run away again you know to fire a place and I keep stating and come back happens to Runaways do they all return home unfortunately not all of them do of those filmed in this documentary one is still somewhere on the road one became ill and died at home one is now in a private institution and with her family receiving counseling and one has come home hopefully to stay if families are going through this it's not not to be afraid to ask for help and not be afraid to talk to other people about it because you'd be surprised at people in everyday life like at the stores and things like this that they can give you information they can give you advice and you'd be surprised at the people that have been through it and you're not alone in it and they can give you so much comfort that you can't get otherwise well once you're home it's really hard and the best thing to do is just try to just sit down with your family either one at a time or all together and just try to talk at out and don't pretend it never happened it happened and just try to go on from there [Laughter] runaway hotline Emily speaking can I help you [Music] The Runaway hotline is a toll-free service operating seven days a week 24 hours a day though based in Texas it serves Nationwide if you know runaways who need help give them this number it's a free call for more information on the runaway hotline right runaway hotline Office of the governor Austin Texas [Music]