'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.