John

John's name has been changed to maintain confidentiality but the events are a true record

John called the SAFE@LAST helpline one afternoon this summer to say that he was desperate and wanted to talk to someone.

Image posed by model

A SAFE@LAST project worker met him in a safe location where John explained that he had run away. He could not return home as he was frightened his father would lock him in his room and beat him.  John had in his possession a weapon which he was carrying to protect himself from the abuse that he had been suffering.

With the help of the team at SAFE@LAST John was able to access temporary accomodation and continue attending school.

Sadly, one week later John was found by his father - SAFE@LAST has not heard from him since.

We believe that, had there been a confidential and safe refuge available to John, it is unlikely his father would have been able to find him and force him to accompany him.  It is for the sake of young people like John that with your help, SAFE@LAST is committed to providing a SAFEplace for runaways.

Mary was referred to SAFE@LAST by South Yorkshire Police through the MISPER scheme.  She had run away from home because she was constantly rowing with her mum.

Image posed by model

The relationship had started to deteriorate when her Mum got a new boyfriend.  Mary had been missing for three days when she was found and returned home, despite being only 14 she had stayed one night at her friends house and then with her boyfriend, who is much older.

When SAFE@LAST contacted Mary, she was frustrated, angry and still threatening to run away again as she felt that her Mum only had time for her new boyfriend.  One of our project workers met Mary regularly and over a few weeks was able to help her begin to understand her own and her mothers needs and to recognise the dangers of running away and her vulnerability whilst away from home.

Mary still has problems but when she feels that the only solution is to run she contacts SAFE@LAST and speaks to her project worker who helps her find strategies to deal with the situation and her feelings.

Louise

Louise's name has been changed to maintain confidentiality but the events are a true record.

Louise is eight years old.  Her mum’s health visitor called us and asked if we could go and visit Louise and her mum as Louise was running off from her mum when they were out and showing no understanding of the dangers of roads and strangers.

Image posed by model.  Used with kind permission from the Childrens Society

The Health Visitor thought that in this instance Louise was more likely to listen to someone else rather than her mum when talking about safety.

We talked to Louise about stranger danger and how important it was to stay with her mum when they were out and about near roads.

We also offered Louise’s school the opportunity to invite us in to do some workshops with the whole class around the subject of safety.

Joshua

Joshua's name has been changed to maintain confidentiality but the events are a true record.

Joshua is 15 years old and rang the helpline on a Saturday afternoon saying that his mum had thrown him out after an argument with mums boyfriend and he now had no-where to stay that night.

Image posed by model

The on-call manager went out to meet him, got him something to eat and arranged for him to stay at his friend’s house.

The on-call manager spoke with his mum who agreed to take him back until he was 16 in a month’s time.

Within a week of him turning 16 Joshua was back on the street, he rang SAFE@LAST and the on-call manager again went out to see him and supported him in accessing homeless service as an emergency measure and finally supporting him in becoming a resident on a young person’s housing project.  Without SAFE@AST's help Joshua may have spent weeks on the streets and never secured himself a safe and secure place to live.

Julie

Julie's name has been changed to maintain confidentiality but the events are a true record.

Julie is 13 years old and was reported to SAFE@LAST via South Yorkshire Police after being reported missing by her mum.

Image posed by model. Used with kind permission from the Childrens Society

Julie’s mum is a single parent, but is in a secure and supportive relationship, and for a long while neither Julie or mum have had contact with Julie’s dad nor did they know where he is.

As Julie has grown she has felt the need to make contact with her dad and this has caused conflict with her mum who felt that this wouldn’t be good for Julie as he may let her down.

This was the cause for Julie going missing.  During her times of being missing Julie met up with some other people who were encouraging her to stay away from home and were into drug and alcohol misuse.

Our project worker met Julie on several occasions and talked with her about the risks of staying away from home and supported her into other positive activities.

Simon

Simons' name has been changed to maintain confidentiality but the events are a true record.

Simon is a 14 year old boy and was referred to SAFE@LAST via his mum who rang the helpline asking for help.

Image posed by model

Simon had been in trouble at school and school had rung his mum to tell her about it.  Simon has been getting into bits of trouble since he started attending Comprehensive School.  His Mum felt that this was serious and rang him to tell him that he couldn’t go out that night to meet his friend as she wanted to talk to him when she got home from work.

Simon felt that he should be able to go out and went missing before his Mum got home.

As it was a summer evening his Mum and Dad looked all over trying to find him and just as they were on the point of reporting him missing to the police he turned up.  He had been missing for four hours.

His parents didn’t want this to happen again and having heard of SAFE@AST rang the helpline and asked for help.  Simon now regularly sees a Project Worker who is able to listen to him and help him work through any issues and problems that he has in school or at home.  They have also talked to him about the dangers or running away and how it isn’t the answer to his problems.

© SAFE@LAST 2007