RachelMumsnet
(MNHQ)
Mon 19-Nov-12 12:25:42
You may have seen last month that the charity Railway Children is working with Aviva to provide help and support to children who have run away from home, or are at risk of doing so. It's estimated that one child runs away from home or care every five minutes in the UK. They've helped us to build some information on the reasons why children run away and how to spot the warning signs.
We were astounded by your response, with many of you sharing very personal stories and experiences. So many people have been touched by this issue and by sharing your thoughts, you have already helped us raise £18,422 for Railway Children.
Your comments have also raised lots of questions, so to answer everything and anything you'd like to ask - but never previously knew who to go to - about the topic of running away from home, we have invited the following experts to answer your questions:
· Andy McCullough Head of UK Policy & Public Affairs at Railway Children
· Charlie Hedges from CEOP, an organisation that deals with child exploitation and online protection
For every (proper & real!) question submitted, Aviva will donate £2 to Railway Children. You can post a maximum of three questions on the thread. Aviva will donate up to £100,000 by the end of 2012 as part of the Mumsnet campaign.
£2 will also be donated for everyone who 'likes' and recommends this thread on Facebook (by clicking 'Recommend' at the top) and if you 'like' any of the articles here
Do please join in, have your questions answered and help that money stack up!
Send your questions for the experts before Sunday 25th November and we'll link to their answers to up to 20 questions from this page on Monday 10th December.
noidles
Tue 27-Nov-12 12:16:34
Bumping! RachelMumsnet says we can add up to 3 posts about running away and £2 will be donated for every post. Surely more people can get posting?
quietlysuggests
Thu 29-Nov-12 21:27:28
So I can still ask a question -
Do YP who run away assume a new identity or keep their old one typically?
quietlysuggests
Thu 29-Nov-12 21:28:22
Does the use of social media help to find those who have run away? Can they be traced eg from their facebook accounts?
quietlysuggests
Thu 29-Nov-12 21:31:56
Are runaway cases actively investigated by police services, do they go and look to make sure they are safe, alive, etc?
OhWesternWind
Thu 29-Nov-12 22:31:36
My daughter ran away, briefly, thank goodness, last year whilst she was in an upset state about some family problems. What is the best way to speak to a youngish child (she's now ten) about the real dangers of running away, particularly for a girl, without frightening her unnecessarily?
OhWesternWind
Thu 29-Nov-12 22:32:38
Why do children tend to run away? From my experience it was due to upset about a family problem, but it this the most common reason?
OhWesternWind
Thu 29-Nov-12 22:33:14
What help is available to families of runaway children, and the children themselves, when they've returned to the family?
To what extent are the budget cuts and economic strain the country is under, making this problem worse, would you say?
yellowdomino
Tue 11-Dec-12 19:02:27
When are we going to get the answers to this please? 
what % of children run away because of some kind of abuse? and what % get abused by other adult homeless people?also how many railway children end up becoming some kind of addict to alcahol or drugs ?
ShadeMumsnet
(MNHQ)
Wed 12-Dec-12 11:42:19
Sorry, the answers to this Q&A will now be going up slightly later than promised. We'll post a link to the answer page on Friday afternoon.
NancyMumsnet
(MNHQ)
Mon 17-Dec-12 09:43:17
Hello, sorry for the delay! We've got the answers back now.
Here they are.
Lua
Wed 23-Jan-13 16:56:38
hat does Aviva actually does to help children at risk?
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