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Runaways


            Children who are abused, neglected or dependent clearly belong in the child protection .
             Children who commit crimes are dealt with by the juvenile justice system. And .
             yet there are those youths that have not been classified as falling into any of the .
             categories already mentioned but who may exhibit characteristics of them all. These .
             youths are to as status offenders. .
             Status offenders are youths who commit offenses that, if committed by adults, would not .
             be considered crimes. A prime example of a status offender is a runaway. Many have .
             been victims of neglect and/or abuse. These children are sometimes viewed as the victim .
             within the family and sometimes as the perpetrator of having wreaked family havoc.
             In some jurisdiction status offenders are helped by the child protection system; in others, .
             by the juvenile justice system; and still in others, by social service agencies or in a .
             combination of these three systems. Whether it was the child's choice or whether they .
             were forced or kicked out of their homes, they are from that point on labeled runaway.
             When many people hear the term runaway they automatically think "delinquent". There .
             are actually many different aspects of running away. A popular myth regarding youths .
             who runaway from home is that they leave home to satisfy an urge for independence or .
             that they leave for their own defiant desires. Many researchers have found, however, that the majority of youths who runaway do so because of family problems (Kurtz, Kurtz & .
             Jarvis, 1991 a & 1991 b; Mirkin, Raskin, & Antognini, 1984; vanHouten & Golemiewski, .
             1980).
             Runaway youths have reported a vast array of family problems leading to the act of .
             running away. The chronic runaways in Whitbeck and Simon's (1990) study stated .
             several reasons for running including parents who were "too strict" or not caring, as well .
             as, parents who were repeatedly violent in the home. Brennan, Huizinga and Elliot (1978) .


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