Hostname: page-component-857557d7f7-v48vw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-11-23T08:55:24.113Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

From Where to Where – Running Away from Care

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2015

Annette Jackson
Annette Jackson*
Affiliation:
Take Two, Berry Street, Richmond, Victoria, Australia.
*
address for correspondence: Annette Jackson, Director, 1 Salisbury Street, Richmond 3121, Australia. E-mail: ajackson@berrystreet.org.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This opinion piece draws on the literature regarding absconding from care and its links with child sexual exploitation and trauma. The author draws on her experience in the child protection, out-of-home care and therapeutic services to raise some questions and suggest some themes about how the system responds when young people run away from what is purportedly safe to what is palpably unsafe. The article concludes with a brief description of trauma-informed practice and suggests that this concept is a useful contribution in our response to helping young people no longer needing to run.

Keywords

abscondingchild protectionout-of-home careexploitationtraumatrauma-informed practice

Information

Type
Opinion
Information
Children Australia , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , March 2015 , pp. 16 - 19
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Adults Surviving Child Abuse. (2012). Practice guidelines for treatment of complex trauma and trauma informed care and service delivery. Kirribilli: Adults Surviving Child Abuse. Retrieved from http://www.recoveryonpurpose.com/upload/ASCA_Practice%20Guidelines%20for%20the%20Treatment%20of%20Complex%20Trauma.pdfGoogle Scholar
Atkinson, J. (2013). Trauma-informed services and trauma-specific care for Indigenous Australian children. [Resource sheet no. 21 produced for the Closing the Gap Clearinghouse]. Retrieved from http://www.aihw.gov.au/uploadedFiles/ClosingTheGap/Content/Publications/2013/ctg-rs21.pdfGoogle Scholar
Barnado's. (2011). Puppet on a string: The urgent need to cut children free from sexual exploitation. Ilford, Essex, UK: Barnado's.Google Scholar
Bateman, J., Henderson, C., & Kezelman, C. (2013). Trauma-informed care and practice: Towards a cultural shift in policy reform across mental health and human services in Australia, a national strategic direction. Position Paper and Recommendations of the National Trauma-Informed Care and Practice Advisory Working Group. Mental Health Coordinating Council (MHCC), Lilyfield, NSW.Google Scholar
Beckett, H. (2011). ‘Not a world away’: The sexual exploitation of children and young people in Northern Ireland. Belfast, Northern Ireland: Barnado's.Google Scholar
Biehal, N., & Wade, J. (2000). Going missing from residential and foster care: Linking biographies and contexts. British Journal of Social Work, 30 (2), 211–225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloom, S. L. (2005). The Sanctuary Model of organizational change for children's residential treatment. Retrieved from http://www.sanctuaryweb.com/PDFs_new/Bloom%20TC%20Sanctuary%20Model%20Organization%20Development.pdfGoogle Scholar
Brawn, K. M., & Roe-Sepowitz, D. (2008). Female juvenile prostitutes: Exploring the relationship to substance use. Children and Youth Services Review, 30, 1395–1402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ching-Hsuan, L. (2012). Children who run away from foster care: Who are the children and what are the risk factors? Children and Youth Services Review, 34, 807–813.Google Scholar
Clark, H. B., Crosland, K. A., Geller, D., Cripe, M., KIenney, T., Neff, B., & Dunlap, G. (2008). A functional approach to reducing runaway behavior and stabilizing placements for adolescents in foster care. Research on Social Work Practice, 18, 429–441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Courtney, M. E., & Zinn, A. (2009). Predictors of running away from out-of-home care. Children and Youth Services Review, 31, 1298–1306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cusick, L. (2002). Youth prostitution: A literature review. Child Abuse Review, 11 (4), 230–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fallot, R. D., & Harris, M. (2006). Trauma-informed services: A self-assessment and planning protocol. Washington, DC: Community Connections.Google Scholar
Fasulo, S. J., Cross, T. P., Mosley, P., & Leavey, J. (2002). Adolescent runaway behavior in specialized foster care. Children and Youth Services Review, 24 (8), 623–640.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frederico, M., Jackson, A., & Black, C. (2010). More than words – The language of relationships. Take Two third evaluation report. Bundoora, Australia: La Trobe University.Google Scholar
Jackson, A. L. (2014). Literature review: Young people at high risk of sexual exploitation, absconding, and other significant harms. Melbourne: Berry Street Childhood Institute.Google Scholar
Kaestle, C. E. (2012). Selling and buying sex: A longitudinal study of risk and protective factors in adolescence. Prevention Science, 13, 314–322.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Karam, R., & Robert, M. (2013). Understanding runaway behaviour in group homes: What are runaways trying to tell us? Journal of Community Positive Practices, XIII (2), 69–79.Google Scholar
Martyn, E. (1998). Youth for sale: ECPAT Australia's National Inquiry into the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Young People in Australia. South Melbourne: ECPAT Australia Inc.Google Scholar
Rafferty, Y. (2013). Child trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation: A review of promising prevention policies and programs. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 83 (4), 559–575.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smeaton, E. (2013). Running from hate to what you think is love: The relationship between running away and child sexual exploitation. Ilford, Essex, UK: Barnado's.Google Scholar
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2014). SAMHSA's concept of trauma and guidance for a trauma-informed approach. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.Google Scholar
Twill, S. E., Green, D. M., & Traylor, A. (2010). A descriptive study on sexually exploited children in residential treatment. Child Youth Care Forum, 39, 187–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tyler, K. A., Johnson, K. A., & Brownbridge, D. A. (2008). A longitudinal study of the effects of child maltreatment on later outcomes among high-risk adolescents. Journal of Youth Adolescence, 37, 506–521.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
VERSO Consulting Pty Ltd. (2011). Evaluation of the therapeutic residential care pilot programs final summary and technical report. Clifton Hill, Victoria: Department of Human Services.Google Scholar
Wilson, H. W., & Widom, C. S. (2010). The role of youth problem behaviors in the path from child abuse and neglect to prostitution: A prospective examination. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 20 (1), 210–236.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed