Did you know.....on average, two children in every school class will run away from home before the age of 16?*

[AnnMumsnet]

Please download the free runaway prevention lesson plans from Railway Children and ask your child's teacher to deliver them to their class to educate them on safer choices.

Railway Children say "This statistic brings home the need to introduce runaway prevention education to every child's class in the UK  not to scare children, but to get them to think about the safe people in their lives, and the ways they can get help to sort out problems. If the subject of running away from home is not a topic on your child's school's PSHE curriculum, then you should download Railway Childrens free lesson plans for KS1, 2 and 3, available here and take it into your school or encourage your child's teacher to download it for themselves.

Please do this and then return to this thread and let us know:

~ What you or the school thought of the resource
~ Would you want your child's teacher to teach this lesson in class?
~ Do you think it's up to the school or the parent to raise awareness of the issues around children running away from home?

Leave a 'proper' comment below and for every response (ideally to the questions above) (up to a maximum of 3 per user), Aviva will donate £2 to Railway Children to support the work they do.

• Based on a life time running away rate of 8.9% - Still Running 3, The Childrens Society

[hunhun007]

I am a foster parent and I deal with a lot of kids which run away from home but most of the time they did have a good reason to do so... we still have to learn a lot on how to protect kids ...
It is wrong to blame the kid for running away without further discovery why they did it...
One of kids I know run away 3 times before someone actually stopped and ask the question WHY

[Emmabombemma]

I think it's very short-sighted to assume this is a class issue and I agree with taffleee that it can be a result of not being able to relate to the parents.

I'm from a financially comfortable middle class home but ran away at 16 because my parents were being very strict and I felt completely misunderstood, smothered and unable to start expressing myself (e.g. my first boyfriend was banned from the house and I was grounded for having my belly button pierced etc ...).
It was a real shock in my community that I'd done this but it does happen. I've always vowed to listen to my children and let them be individuals. It scares me to think some people think this could never happen to them because they live in a detached house.

[SmileItsSunny]

Commenting for the donation.

[AnnMumsnet]

hello - we noticed a few of you have simply posted "Commenting for the donation" - I am afraid this does not count as a comment - and will not generate a donation to Railway Children - Aviva do need you to post a proper contribution to the thread - ideally by answering the questions posed by me above - sorry if this wasn't clear (am now amending OP).

to all posts so far...keep all comments etc coming!

[gytis]

hello all, i got kicked out from my house about two months ago i was living in my freind house but now i cant stay there no more, any advice where should i go? thank you.

[gytis]

I forgot to say that i'm 17 :)

[AnnMumsnet]

gytis - really sorry to hear this. Railway Children have asked me to pass on this advice to you
"Sorry to hear that things aren't working out for you at the moment. If you have nowhere safe to stay you should contact your local council and tell them you are homeless. This leaflet from the charity Shelter tells you about your rights.
england.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/274874/Rights_of_homeless_16_and_17_yr_olds.pdf
Shelter also have a free helpline you can phone: 0808 800 4444. If there is a local advice centre or Citizens Advice Bureau in your area they should be able to advise you as well, especially if the council make a decision you don't agree with. Hope that helps and best of luck"