No One Asked Us Before!

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Shamin Akthar. Safe in the City (Manchester)/The Children’s Society Contact: 0161 275 9083. E-mail: scm@childrenssociety.org.uk

Client group: Asian young women who run away.

Purpose: To establish why young Asian women run away from home, because previous research has misrepresented the overall reasons why.

Main findings: Some reasons why young Asian people run away are in line with expectations (abuse, offending behaviour and drugs), some are not, such as problems with parents who abuse alcohol and running away with a sexual partner of their choice. Asian young people face multiple problems when they return home, through force or by choice, and some current practice is not appropriate for dealing with this client group’s needs sensitively. Some services do not have policies, strategies, resources or methods in place to provide appropriate services.

Practice implications: Planning should take account of Asian young people’s needs and those of their families; more use of different community languages in publicity and information; services should be offered to people out of their area; outreach work could be extended; ask young people what sort of worker they would prefer in terms of ethnicity; involve young people in planning, monitoring and evaluating services. Young women also suggested that resources, such as helplines, advocacy projects and short-term emergency shelters that are culturally appropriate, would help them.