'austraLasia' #82
CRISIS SPURS RISE IN TEENAGE RUNAWAYS
by Mark Russell
South China Morning Post
HONG KONG: 23rd June -- The number of teenage runaways is soaring as the
financial crisis forces parents to spend more time at work, a charity
group says. More mainland children, who have entered Hong Kong legally,
are also living on the streets, said Youth Outreach, a charity that
works with runaways.
It estimates up to 30,000 children under the age of 16 run away from
home each year, more than eight times the number reflected by police
statistics. Youth Outreach executive director, Father Peter
Newbery, said his social workers, who patrol streets each night, had
witnessed a rise in runaways
unable to cope with home pressures.
"When there is an economic downturn most people do not reduce their
lifestyles, they just work harder to keep where they are. There is no
time left to spend with their kids," Father Newbery said.
"Family units are falling to pieces; they're in a desperate state. They
are not bad people, they're just bad parents. We have to pick up the
pieces, to get to the kids before the triads do." Police figures show
about 3,500 children under 16 are reported runaways each year, but
Father Newbery says the real figure is much higher. "All those figures
tell us is there are 3,500 sets of parents who are very concerned about
their children. That is not the same as saying how many kids are on the
streets."
He said more mainland children, unable to cope with their new lives in
Hong Kong, were turning to
the streets. "They can't keep up in school, on the streets they get
beaten up because they can't speak Cantonese. Many just can't cope with
the change. We're picking up an increasing number out on the streets,
which is very sad." Father Newbery said while the downturn had
contributed to the crisis, a lack of family values and parental
guidance was mainly to blame.
Research has shown the average father spends six minutes a day with his
children and that between 70 and 80 per cent of parents had no idea
where their children went after school. "Our target group are marginal
young people. We don't take in drug addicts or kids with a criminal
record. They may have decamped to life on the streets but they are not
yet imbedded in this delinquent, triad subculture," he said.
Youth Outreach, which runs residential centres in Chai Wan and Sha Tin,
claims an 85 per cent success rate based on young people returning
to school, living at home and staying out of trouble.
