Scottish Government cash is being invested into efforts to help struggling youngsters considering running away from home.
A total of £30,000 has been awarded to two charities – Missing People and Barnardo’s – to educate vulnerable young people on the dangers of going missing.
Almost two-thirds of police missing persons investigations involve a child or young person – with these making up 64% of such cases in 2017-18.
The project also aims to encourage more of those who are considering running away to instead seek help and support.
Young people themselves will be involved in the work in a bid to ensure the initiative is “tailored for the right audience and has the most impact”, Barnardo’s said.
Community safety minister Ash Denham said: “Almost 23,000 missing person investigations were conducted by Police Scotland in 2017-18 – nearly two-thirds involving children and young people.
“Whether young people are struggling with their mental health or experiencing difficulties at home, it is important that they understand the dangers of running away and can access professional help and support so they know going missing is not their only option.”
While most missing youngsters are found safely within 48 hours, Ms Denham stressed the Government is “determined to continue to improve how we safeguard and support the most vulnerable”.
She added: “That is more important than ever at this time of year when the end of the festive period can give way to stresses and strains in relationships.”
Susannah Drury, policy director for Missing People, said: “Only one in 20 young people in Scotland who run away reach out for professional help. Most young people simply don’t know that support is available to help them stay safe, including Missing People’s 24/7 free and confidential Runaway Helpline.
“We are delighted to be working with Barnardo’s Scotland and young people themselves to develop this resource that will inform young people about how they can stay safe and get the support they need if they are thinking about running away, or have been reported missing.”
Daljeet Dagon, national programme manager for child sexual exploitation for Barnardo’s Scotland, said: “We’re very pleased to be working with Missing People and young people to develop this new resource.
“The experience and perspective that young people bring to the resource will ensure it is tailored for the right audience and has the most impact.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here