According to research, there are about two million cases of teenage runways in America each year. Unfortunately, there are many complex reasons why teens run away from home. As a parent, it can be highly distressing to learn of your loved one’s disappearance, and you may be wondering how to locate them. Please continue reading to learn effective strategies to find a teen runaway and how our Connecticut Missing Persons Investigations for Families can help you find your missing child.
Why Do Teens Runaway?
There are many reasons why teens decide to leave home. However, it mainly derives from reaching a breaking point where they can’t face another day of bullying, parental abuse, or stress. The National Runaway Safeline provides the following statistics on why children run away:
- 47% of children experience conflicts with their parents at home.
- 34% of teen runaways experience sexual abuse at home (80% of those are female).
- 43% of teen runaways reported physical abuse at home.
Although abuse is usually the main reason behind teenagers deciding to leave their homes, other contributing factors can lead children to run away. For instance, the inability of teens to handle their personal problems can cause them to run away. In addition, lack of parent-child communication leads to runways as children feel they don’t matter.
What to Do When Your Teen is a Runaway?
When a teenager goes missing, this urgent situation demands swift action to ensure the child’s well-being. The first 48 hours are critical. Therefore, you should thoroughly search your home to ensure they aren’t hiding somewhere. If you suspect they ran away, you should look for clues that can help you locate their whereabouts. From here, you should call the police. It’s crucial to report them as missing so the police can begin using their resources to find them.
After alerting the authorities, you should contact your child’s friends. Teens often lean on their friends for help. Therefore, they may have helped your child disappear. Contacting their friends will also help spread the word quickly about the disappearance and trigger the involvement of other people searching for your child. It’s also beneficial to check local hangout spots in your neighborhood.
You should look through your child’s phone and other devices to find valuable clues that indicate where they may be. You should look at their messages and call history to see who they last contacted. You may be able to track them through their phone if it’s with them. However, one of the most important steps you can take if your teen runs away is enlisting the help of an experienced private investigator.
At Advanced Investigations, we are prepared to help you with your missing persons case. Our private investigators will use their resources to gather pertinent clues to locate your loved one.