Calls to ChildLine about running away and homelessness (ChildLine Casenotes)

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Calls to ChildLine about running away and homelessness

Front cover of Calls to ChildLine about running away and homelessness ChildLine Casenotes is a series of reports based on analysis of calls to ChildLine, a free confidential helpline for children and young people in the UK provided by the NSPCC.

Calls to ChildLine about running away and homelessness (PDF, 440KB) is based on detailed analysis of calls to ChildLine from 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007.

In 2006/07, 2,304 children and young people called ChildLine to talk specifically about running away. A third mentioned physical abuse.
The most common reason given for running away was the inability to get along with parents or carers.
Sixty-five per cent (1,507) of calls about running away were from girls and 35 per cent (797) were from boys.
About one in eight children (12 per cent) calling ChildLine in 2006/07 about running away was under the age of 12.
The most common ages for calls about running away were 14 and 15.
Many teenagers said they had run away because of disagreements with their parents over boundaries and rules.
In 2006/07, 2,724 children and young people called ChildLine to speak about homelessness. Around half said they had been thrown out by their parents or carers.
Sixty-five per cent (1,759) of calls about homelessness were from girls and 35 per cent (965) were from boys. They very often spoke of bad parenting.
Young people calling about homelessness were, on average, older than those who called about other problems, including running away.
In the majority of calls about homelessness, young people spoke about their parents’ inability to control their tempers.

This Casenote is one of a series sponsored by Amlin, a London-based insurer, as part of their 2007 Charity and Community Programme. www.amlin.com