Response network for runaways urged
Posted: 22 August 2002 | Subscribe Online
A nationwide safety net of services needs to be created by local
authorities to help the 100,000 young runaways each year, the
Children's Society has proposed.
The recommendation follows Channel 4's programme Who Killed Simone
Valentine? screened earlier this week, which featured the story of
a 15-year-old runaway who froze to death in Manchester in
1999.
Penny Dean, the society's director for children and young people,
said: "A safety net can bring together the police, social services,
health and education officials to co-ordinate how they respond to
runaways, rather then leaving it to individual departments."
