Oh go on, please talk to us about runaway kids: Aviva will donate £2 to the charity Railway Children for every post!

I have a very vivid memory from my childhood which has always stayed with me. When I was about 5 I woke up one morning to find out that my Mum had stayed up late the night before (we lived in a quiet village) and had answered a knock at the door at one in the morning. Stood in front of her was a soaked 12 year old who had walked 5 miles over fields having run away from home. My Mum brought him into the house, gave him a hot drink and talked to him. He was basically just going through normal teenage problems and had run away, however the heavy rain and long walk had made him have second thoughts. My mum talked to him for an hour about her teenage years and by the end he asked to go home. My mum called his family and drove him home. He sent chocolates a week later and a letter saying he was happy and things were much better at home.

My mum could have ignored the door, she could have sent him away, but she saw in that boy her own two sons and hoped that if they were ever in a similar situation someone would care enough to help them out. I often think about that boy and hope that he was happy and my mum sometimes speaks about him so I know she thinks about him too.

I would like to see more information out there for young people who are thinking about running away and support for those who already have. This campaign is a great start to publicise the fantastic work of The Railway Children. Hopefully it will help raise lots of money for this great cause and help out lots of children in real need.

My friend ran away from home when a teenager because she could not bear her life with her very very very strict parents. Luckily she had friends to rely on and spent the next few months being cared for by various people and their mums and dads if not her parents. She was prepared to sleep rough but many adults stepped up to the plate and gave her a temporary home.

Her parents essentially needed counselling to help them and my friend work out an acceptable way to live. My friend was not allowed any freedoms and her parents simply wanted to protect her from life but had gone completely OTT.

But before her parents came to accept this (and to their credit they did get family counselling and moved on to some extent) they spent months not knowing where their 14/15 year old daughter was. It was very sad.

I rememeber thinking about running away as a child. I was very depresse. My parents didn't have a clue.

I hope that George Osborne will put his hand in his pocket also.

I'm working with a few teens who aren't living with their parents. Through parental choice and the child's left home voluntarily ( could be classed as run away ?). There's many more homeless teens than you actually realise.

Good on Aviva for raising money and awareness. Being a teenager can be such a tough time and some children have such terrible home lives. I hope everyone posts etc.

I don't really have anything to add as dc are younger.

It saddens me that it gets to the stage that so many children feel they have to get away. A girl several years below me at school from a very nice family ran away when she was about 14. She was found about a week later, turned out she was pregnant and from what I understand her family were very supportive. We didn't have any youth clubs or councilors at our school.

It seams sad that things go so far.

I don't really have anything to add, but I'm very glad Aviva are supporting this cause.

Hesterton I bet that boy never forgot your kindness & your taking an interest in him. Well done. We need more understanding of homelessness.

When I was about 16 my then bf ran away from home (his parents were physically abusive) What shocked me (and still does) was how easy it was for someone to slip through the net and end up on the streets with no help. He lived in a 'good' area, went to a 'good' school and had lots of friends with stable home lives. One close friend had a dad who worked in social services. Despite all this it didn't take long for him to end up sleeping on the streets. scary :(

I always remember DH telling me the story of how he was a teenager in Bristol in the 70s. He found a wallet in the street and being the good, law-abiding chap that he was, he went to the local police station to hand it in. While he was waiting to be seen, he said how struck he was by all the missing posters of teenagers there were. It deeply saddened him at the time - wondering where on earth all those young people could be - and it came back to haunt him when Fred & Rose West were exposed.

That very simple tale has always stuck with me when I think of runaway children. So desperately sad.

Done the survey.

I had a whole running away plan when I was a kid. Any time I was unhappy, off I'd go to improve 'The Plan'. I was even going to grow tomatoes in my hideout that happened to be in a large park.

I never did it, though.

Sorry about link fail!

Helpline for young people who have runaway

And for adults missing a young person

(it's the same number btw)

I think it's a very under-promoted cause. I was unaware of the extent of the issue and have only recently heard of Railway Children.

I used to volunteer for the Missing People helpline for young runaways, called the Runaway Helpline (called Message Home when I volunteered for it). It was a very interesting experience; most runaways are actually only running away temporarily (obviously still very distressing for all involved), and a significant proportion were in care, or known to social services for some reason or another. We spent a lot of time contacting the Emergency Duty Team at various local Social Services.

Anyone in London, able to get to south-west London, might like to have a look https://fromwww.missingpeople.org.uk/missing-people/young-people/24-hour-help if they are interested in volunteering. (I assume they are in the same place as when I volunteered!).

And you can also call it if you are an adult worried about a young person: here fromwww.missingpeople.org.uk/missing-people/families-and-friends/24-hour-help. They can talk you through the law, signpost you to other sources of practical or emotional help, and generally support you.

My daughter, aged eight, announced I was a horrible mother and she was leaving home. She packed a carrier bag, and off she flounced, banging the front door behind her. I watched her from the window as she walked down the path, and settled into a hole in the hedge at the end of the garden, and sat looking very sad for herself. I darent take my eyes off her for one second, in case she really walked off. I can remember how scary that felt, just for an hour, and I actually knew where she was and what she was doing, and she was safe. I cant imagine how it must feel if you dont know why your child has run away, where they are, or if they are safe. Fortunately Tiny Gherkins agreed to come back in if I cooked bangers and mash for tea, and all was well with the world. Thank you Aviva for making me tell this tale for £2.

Thanks for raising awareness of what must be a complete nightmare for any family that goes through this

For some children I think running away is the only option they know about
I was to find 0800 1111 isn't always tought in schools
Also at how many times a caller hangs up, due to no one able to answer the call
All children should be taught the number

I ran away from home when I was eight. I spent two hours in the park then had to come home for a sandwich because I was hungry.

It worked for me. After two hours of frantic searching my parents were ready to listen to what I had to say, and I got to see that I really mattered to them.

I cant imagine what families go through when children run away for real though.

What Julie said - the recent devastation of Youth Services in some counties has taken away what little partnership working was possible

I too didn't realise that number of kids ran away - but what is counted as running away? I still remember my little brother disappearing for a couple of hours one afternoon, probably aged about 5. He was in the garage attic. Did he run away? Or are we talking kids who disappear for a few days, and the police are involved?

Actually, thinking about that, the neighbours kid, and her mate from up the road disappearing fora few days. The police were involved at that point, but they hadn't gone far, and I saw them wandering down the road on about day 3, and told school that morning, when they were promptly found. Don't know why I didn't tell my parents there and then!

Bring back old fashioned council run youth clubs, somewhere to go, someone to talk to, somewhere to turn