Talk:Runaway youth

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[edit] I could have been.

Had I taken an interest in Japanese culture (and Anime) earlier in life (particularly, the 7th Grade or sooner), then due to the immense turmoil at school through having a paraprofessional that year, I would have ran away to the West Coast, so I could sneak aboard a ship to Japan, and find a better life there.

In fact, I plan on sending to my former High School Counselor my thoughts on this "what if" issue, so she can tell me what her thoughts are about this.

It may have been good to not run away, or it may have been good to do so and reach Japan (if circumstances and fate allowed for it). Regardless, I felt a great portion of my youth was wasted because of that year. Gone, at least 'til the day Dechronification comes along.

The Letter:

(Due to immense editing & formatting issues, a link to a blog entry displaying the letter will instead be provided in the future.)

Please, share your thoughts about this too, either here or on my User_Talk page.

[edit] Fishy Stats

I have to doubt the number of runaways in the United States:

"It is estimated that each year there are between 1.3 and 1.5 million runaway and homeless youth in the United States (Coco & Courtney, 1998; Cauce et al., 1994)."

There are about 74 million people under the age of 18 in the US [1]. The stat above says that 1.5 million of them will run away every year, which is 2.02%. Now imagine a cohort of children (a group of kids the same age). In the 18 years it takes for our cohort to become adults, 36.5% of them will run away? Perhaps the same kids will run away several times, but that still seems like a huge number. 32.97.110.142 19:08, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

I'm doubting that one too. I live in LA -- and while you do see a lot of homeless people and mentally ill (it's inevitable!) -- I rarely, if ever, have seen a runaway kid. ― LADY GALAXY ★彡 Refill/lol 18:49, 26 March 2007 (UTC)
While I agree that the 1.5 million stat is a bit dubious, I think you're misreading it a little. It claims that every year there will be 1.5 million runaways, not that there will be 1.5 million new runaways. I think the "each year" bit is there to illustrate the ongoing nature of the problem. --Ddawn23 09:33, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
  • Many runaway kids don't exactly live on the street 24/7... bare in mind that they're considered runaways as long as they're out of their parents houses. Many kids run away more than once, too, inflating the numbers. --W.marsh 23:55, 23 April 2007 (UTC)
More importantly, you can't just say 36.5% will run away. Certain types of kids in certain situations are likely to runaway. As for why you don't see them, you probably do. Unlike the mentally ill or elderly homeless people (especially men), they often still care about what others think of them and take great pains to at least appear semi-clean. How can you tell that the teenager you saw wondering around the mall wasn't shopping but was actually killing time until enough people clear out of the bus depot that he or she can sleep there? A good way to prevent your children running is to keep a good relashinship with them and to know what is hapening in there lives. - 67.166.139.181 07:57, 5 June 2007 (UTC)