Number of missing and runaway teenagers on the rise

Experts believe the increase in the number of missing teenagers is not always due to rebellion or misbehaviour, but rather about them not knowing how to cope with their current circumstances.

The Pink Ladies founder Jacqui Thomas said she had spent last weekend looking for runaways following what seemed to be a spike in reports of missing and runaway teenagers.

“It seems to happen in spurts,” she said. “The interesting thing is, teens might have been misbehaving when they ran away, but the point is, they are putting themselves in harm’s way because from the moment they are out there, they are vulnerable.”

Thomas said if adults were struggling to cope with the pandemic, imagine how children were dealing with it.

“These past 2½ years, children have been kept away from school, friends and teachers who they are used to. They are also not participating in sports like before.

“If, suddenly, all these things are taken away from them, what do they have left?”

Thomas added children were not being taught the coping skills to deal with difficult situations like the pandemic. She warned that sheltering a runaway child might be considered noble but it was an offence because the person involved was taking custody of that child.

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Hercules Community Policing Forum secretary Johan Cloete confirmed three teenagers had been found unharmed on Sunday after going missing on Friday.

“It was pure rebellion. It’s a case of a teen living with a gran [and she] ran away with a friend from school and her boyfriend,” he said.

Cloete was also involved with victim empowerment at the local police station and worked with many domestic and gender-based violence cases.

“The children need to be able to talk about what’s going on in their homes before just running off.”

Cloete said often children ran away from home because they did not know how to deal with domestic violence at home.

Cradle of Hope shelter for abused women and children founder Melodie van Brakel said her organisation often has young girls coming to the shelter after running away from home.

“It is almost always because of them having been subjected to the severe physical, emotional and also, specifically, sexual abuse that they are suffering at the hands of their brothers, fathers and also their mothers’ boyfriend or her partner, as well as other family members,” she said.

Van Brakel said a young girl, pregnant with her brother’s baby, was at the shelter. After he beat her up again, she was brought to them by the community pastor.

“As with her case and, normally, other cases, the mothers know what is going on but they do nothing about it. These girls have no support,” she said.

Van Brakel said there was generally very little support for minor girls in desperate need.

“During the past two years of lockdown, children were locked up with abusive parents whereas before, the child could go to school to get away from it for a few hours.”

– marizkac@citizen.co.za