Runaways - Illegal Aliens in Their Own Land - Implications for Service

• NCJ Number: 73076
• Author(s): D Miller; D Miller; F Hoffman; R Duggan
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 224 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health, Education, and Welfare
• Sale Source: Praeger Publishers
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Praeger Special Studies - Praeger Scientific

Annotation

A 2-year study of youthful runaways and runaway services in San Francisco and Los Angeles was conducted to develop a useful runaway typology and to determine the needs of runaways and how these are or are not being met.

Abstract

A total of 214 runaways and 38 parents of runaways were interviewed intensively. Data were also obtained from eight agencies working with runaways, a questionnaire that was mailed both locally and nationwide, staff interviews, observations of agencies, and a search of the growing literature on runaways. The typology was based on a content analysis of the verbalized reasons for leaving home and the circumstances surrounding the runaway episode. This resultant vocabulary of motives yielded two general categories of response: the parent-locus category, which composed 44 percent of the sample and reported the parents as the primary cause of leaving, and the child-locus category, which composed 56 percent of the sample and reported self or other reasons for leaving. Findings concerning social services for runaways revealed that such runaways are multiproblem children and that most social workers do not view the runaway youth as a special category. Further, services are often brief and treatment can only follow legal disclosure and sanction. A report on three other surveys of social agencies indicated a consensus that the runaway problem was serious and long lasting and that survival problems were the greatest area of concern. The typical runaway was white, female, between 13 and 15 years old, from a moderate-income family home, usually broken, and on the road for only a short time. Researchers recommended decriminalizing the runaway's basically illegal alien status, improving the design and communication of existing programs, and developing a variety of alternative services similar to the hostel and wayside services of other countries to reduce the hazards of travel. Tabular data are given. Four appendixes contain research methodology, profiles of eight sample agencies, a runaway resource guide, and a research note on whether running away can be prevented. A bibliography of about 100 citations is included.