CASE OF ENGLISH RUNAWAY CHILDREN

LONDON, U.K. - Based on interviews with 7,300 teenagers aged between 14 and 16 in schools across England, around 84,000 children run away from home each year come from broken homes.
They are three times as likely to run away as those who have a stable background, a major study said yesterday. It said, Children are equally likely to run away in all types of geographical areas, whether urban or rural; deprived or more prosperous.
The report, for the Children's Society, found one in five youngsters who had experienced conflict at home ran away in the last 12 months. The risk bore no relation to whether the child came from a poor or wealthy background.

• One in five children living in these types of situations had run away in the past 12 months and children living with both birth parents have the lowest rates of running away while children who have experienced family change and conflict over the past year are three times as likely to run away as those who have not.

The findings are likely to intensify the debate over marriage and its status that continues to nag at David Cameron and Coalition ministers. Married parents are far less likely to break up than those who live in cohabiting relationships, and research has again and again proved that their children are more likely to enjoy better health and succeed at school.
The charity has spent 12 years examining the motives of children who run away from home. This is the first of its surveys to identify the overwhelming importance of family break-up.

Source: Agency