Why run away from home

They will also offer free parental communication support — whether you have run away or not. NRS will help you speak to your parents via a 3-way conference call or even deliver a message to them on your behalf. Their Home Free program gives adolescents and teens a free Greyhound bus ticket to come back to their parent or legal guardian while arranging a better living situation than the one you left, such as an alternative living arrangement ALA if your home situation is not a safe one.

We are open and accepting clients. For more information about our treatment programs for teens. Ready to Get Help for Your Child? Your child will receive the highest caliber of care in our comfortable, home-like residential treatment centers. To speak with our admissions coordinators, call: Yael Klein. Remember, you have done nothing wrong and do not need to change anything about yourself.

You can talk to a digital mentor by joining our Support Community today or check out this article to help you take the first steps…. Whether you live with family, friends, a partner, on your own or in care, home is meant to be a place where you feel safe and happy.

When things get hard at home, it can feel tempting to think about getting away from it all by physically removing yourself from the situation.

It might be that you want to leave to get away from someone who is making you miserable or hurting you. There are loads of reasons for being unhappy at home. Even small issues can build up over time to become massive. Remember that running away is very rarely a good solution. Are you looking to leave home now? Read our guide to the best alternatives to running away. It could be that at first, you thought this person or people cared about you, but the bottom line is they should not be hurting you.

Runaway Helpline can also help you. We know that bringing this out into the open takes a lot of courage but you are not alone, you deserve to be safe and there are people who will work hard to support you until you are. Lots of people recognise that being gay or transgender is totally fine and does not change who you are as a person. Don't make harsh decisions in a hurry. There are other options for young people.

Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0. If your situation is abusive, dysfunctional, related to substance issues, related to your relationship, or anything else, it's good to have someone to talk to before going on your own.

Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0. On the other hand, do not stay in a place where your parents or the police will know to look for you.

This should be fairly obvious but avoid places where you could be seen by someone that knows who you are and could in turn report you to the police. Try to get a safe distance from home. Don't freak out if you appear on the news. If you are a missing person chances are there will be a news bulletin about you.

Don't tell your friends that you're running away. They might tell your parents or the police. Try not to wear anything that someone might recognize you in, like your favorite shirt or a personalized sweater. If you carry your things in a backpack, then you will look like an average kid going to school to adults.

Be polite, but don't get particularly friendly with anyone or they'll want to know all about you. If you do decide to run away permanently, however, you should probably try to change yourself. Think of this as a "fresh start. Bring something to do when you decided to run away. You're probably going to get bored quickly.

Stay somewhere where you know your parents and the authorities aren't likely to find you, such as a trustworthy acquaintance that your family doesn't know about. Try not to take your phone, but if you must, do not update your social media! Don't add any new friends on your old account. Make a new account for your fake name if you feel the need to, but remember it is still very risky. Don't upload any pictures of yourself or places that are specific to your area to the new account.

You can use public washrooms in malls and shops, and you can tend to your hygienic needs in public pool or gym changing rooms. You may want to leave a note so your parents know you weren't kidnapped.

Don't give away too much information, though. Something like "I'm visiting a friend's house for the week" will work. You may want to try rotating homes between friends. Start off somewhere where no one will look for you, then after a bit, or when another person notifies you, leave that place and stay with a different person. However, you will need floor plans of each house you stay at to determine the best route out in case of emergency.

You also have to be sure that you do not leave anything behind that could clue in authorities. If you have good skills in the wilderness, you could try packing a tent and start living there for a while.

This is not a good permanent solution, however. You could just pack one set of clothes and just stay away for one night. Your parents will get the message and you will avoid the dangers of leaving for good. Avoid places where you might like to spend all your time. A restaurant or arcade you enjoy is somewhere authorities will check.

Try to find a group of friends and runaways. It sounds impossible, but there are a few unknown empty buildings around. Not all of them are safe, so be careful! Don't bring too much, as it will weigh you down. However, maybe bring two or three outfits. If you always wear the same thing, it will be much easier to track you down. Sometimes it may help to look like the opposite gender: Appearance changes will make a difference if you are trying to evade being spotted.

No matter your gender, use makeup to your advantage. Bronzer and foundation can change your appearance. If you have a recognizable mole or birth mark, try to hide it. Bring non-perishable foods that you can eat in small portions over time. Foods which are packed in cans such as corn, peas, or beans are good foods to bring. Check if there's a food bank or pantry in your town or city.

Food banks give free food to people. Leave at nighttime to avoid detection via your parents, friends, and other family members. Stay away from large cities. Try to live off the land and travel around these urban areas to avoid detection. Make very little noise when exiting your current area; there may be some person in the house that you do not know about.

After running away, you can buy a new phone, change the number, and change your email. This will help in avoiding future contact with your parents. It will also help in your leading a new life. Don't try to take your pet with you as it would be easily detected, and could potentially put your pet in danger.

Don't try to make pets out of animals you find, either, as they could be carrying a disease or be feral. Instead of using a debit card for everything, cash most of it at an ATM close by, and hide the cash in several locations among your things. You should go in any warm time of the year.

Do not bring your cell phone with you, as it can be used to trace your location. If you need to make a call to someone, borrow a phone or use a payphone. If you need to purchase something, try to pay with cash.

Helpful 52 Not Helpful 1. Exercise common sense. By running away, you can face the risk of getting caught, mugged, raped, kidnapped, or murdered. It is something you might regret for the rest of your life. Helpful Not Helpful Be prepared for when you run out of food and money, because there will be a time when that happens.

Be careful if you hide out at another person's home because your hosts can be charged with harboring a runaway. Leaving behind family that loves you is the hardest part, so be sure that you are if you insist on running away in fact doing so for the right reason and not just because you want attention.

Be ready to cut off any romantic relationships. Do not run away unless it is essential. Try seeing if you can stay at a friends house first. It is extremely dangerous to be alone on the streets, so please use this as a last resort. Remember that, regardless of how successful you are in running away, you will likely end up returning home eventually. Remember if you do return home and your parents may abandon you then go to your friends house. Helpful 7 Not Helpful 0. If you are punished and don't think it's fair, just think about what you did and how many times you did it.

Also, remember the good times you've had with your family. You may forgive them and not run away at all. Helpful 84 Not Helpful Know that running away from home can cause more grief to your parents and siblings than you can ever imagine. Helpful 85 Not Helpful Related wikiHows How to. How to. There are many reasons why kids and teens decide to leave home, but it is rarely an easy decision.

The National Runaway Safeline shared a few statistics on why children run away:. While abuse is the main reason why youth leave their homes, there are often contributing factors that make the physical, emotional, or sexual abuse worse. Physical abuse and a bad school life can drive a teen away, or sexual abuse because of an unstable home life can cause a child to reach a breaking point.

Either way, youth feel like their only option is to leave. The idea that teens who run away from home can easily return if they wanted to is a myth. More than half of all youth who end up in shelters or on the streets say that their parents told them to leave or knew that they were running away.

If a teen escapes sexual abuse from a relative, that relative is likely still living in the home. Abuse, drug and school problems linger and keep runaways from seeking out their families again.