The Runaway Hotline — what’s it all about
Imagine fighting with your parents constantly. Imagine being abused by family friends or relatives. Imagine being just old enough to be called a teenager, but being made to work to support a parent’s drug habit.
Not a pretty scenario, for sure. But this is the reality for many children and teens across America — in every state and possibly every city. It’s not much of a stretch for them to consider running away, maybe more than once.
The immediate problem is that running is usually only an immediate and temporary solution. What do you do next? Where do you go? Even worse, who do you trust? A child in this situation is a ripe target for human trafficking, forced labor or the sex trade.
There’s one number to call…
1–800-RunAway or 1–800–876–2929
If you or someone you know is considering running away, take a few minutes to checkout this website and all the resources available to you there.
Help is available however you feel most comfortable. Options are easily found on the homepage to call, chat or email — which ever works best in your circumstance.
Opening the website in an incognito window in Chrome will prevent anyone from knowing you even visited the site.
If you want to just research what other teens are doing and saying, checkout their Forums page:
Don’t try to handle this on your own. You may feel quite mature for your age, and you may be; but there is adult help available that wants you to survive and thrive going forward. Give them a chance to help you.
Other numbers to call, depending on your location:
Local and National Helplines for food, shelter, counseling and much more.
Do you know someone who ran away? Feel free to leave their story (no last names) in the comment section below.
Originally published at https://dougbardwell.com on August 21, 2019.
