Burstow to visit refuge for young runaways

10.23.22am GMT Thu 22nd Feb 2007

On Friday 16th February Paul Burstow, MP for Sutton and Cheam and vice-chair of the All Party Group on Young Runaways will visit the London Refuge.

Over 100,000 young people run away each year in the UK. Yet the London refuge - with only six beds - is the sole provider of emergency overnight accommodation of its sort. The Refuge offers advice, support and a safe alternative to sleeping rough on the streets.

Mr Burstow - who is a vice-chair of the All Party Group on Young Runaways - has been campaigning to raise awareness of the problems facing young people who run away or go missing from home for well over a year. As part of this campaign, Mr Burstow has tabled a number of motions in parliament, sponsored the Safeguarding Runaway and Missing Children Bill and visited Chicago with the Children's Society to look at the lessons to be learnt from the USA in protecting young runaways.

Mr Burstow's visit precedes the release in March of a government report into a 2-year pilot project involving six emergency refuges, including the London refuge.

Speaking about his visit Mr Burstow said:

"The London Refuge offers a vital safe haven to protect vulnerable children from the dangers which they face after leaving home."

"Given its success, it's a travesty that it is the only place of its kind in the country.

"I'm calling for the government to take a leading role in creating a full, national network of refuges."

"However, refuges on their own are not enough: it is essential that the government establishes a national strategy to support those children who see running way as the only way to escape problems at home."

Notes to Editors:

Paul Burstow:

Paul Burstow is the NSPCC parliamentary ambassador as well as an officer for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Children Who Run Away or Go Missing.

Mr Burstow is one of the co-sponsors of The Safeguarding Runaway and Missing Children Bill which calls for government to take steps to ensure that information about runaway and missing children is collected and reported, promoting coordination between local authorities and voluntary bodies.

Paul Burstow has also tabled two Early Day Motions:

EDM 308: Protecting Runaway Children:.

That this House supports the Children's Society's Safe and Sound campaign to make England safe for the 100,000 children who run away from home or care each year; is alarmed at the Society's findings that almost half of all children who have run away for over a week have been physically or sexually hurt in that period; calls on all local authorities to put into place the safeguards recommended by the Department of Health to protect young runaways; and further calls on the Department for Education and Skills to publish the evaluations of the six pilot schemes for flexible community-based accommodation for young runaways across England and for the Department to set out how the lessons learnt can be incorporated in the swift establishment of a national network of safe places for children and young people.

EDM 452: National Strategy for Young Runaways:

That this house welcomes the NSPCC's Beyond Refuge Report calling for greater funding and a more appropriate and informed national strategy to help the100,000 young children that run away each year; highlights with concern that under current provision the likelihood of continued family breakdown and repeated running away, also highlights the increased dangers of such children being open to exploitation, and involvement in criminal and harmful activities; calls on the government to review its current provision in this area and incorporate the recommendations of the report into a national strategy to protect young runaways, including the swift establishment of a national network of safe places for children and young people.

The London Refuge:

The London Refuge is the only shelter in the country offering fixed, short term accommodation, to young runaways, who can stay for up to 14 nights without parental consent. (most children stay for only 1 or 2 days). Working under section 51 of the Children's act the Refuge can offer accommodation to those under 16 without needing their parents consent. The refuge has 6 beds and takes 11-15 years olds and occasionally 16-17 year olds.

Whilst there are similar refuges in Glasgow and Totnes, Totnes does not have the same type of fixed accommodation and neither Glasgow nor Totnes work under Section 51 of the children's act.

The report formed part of a 13 month study with a four month period looking at the life of the Refuge (Aug-Nov 2003) .Of 89 admissions 31 cases were studied, 23 girls, 8 boys. ¾ from BME. In depth interviews were undertaken with 22 young people 19 parents 17 professional. The report was funded by by Children's and Young Peoples Unit through St Christopher's Fellowship with day-to-day support provided by the NSPCC Research Department.

Reports into Emergency Refuge Accomodation:

In March 2007, Barnado hope to publish the report: Providing Effective Support when Young People Run Away.

• The report will contain the findings and conclusions arising from a pilot project on the provision of emergency

accommodation for young runaways. Six projects were assessed over a two year period: County Durham; Liverpool; Leicestershire/Leicester City and Rutland; Bradford; Torquay; and the London Refuge.

The Beyond Refuge: Supporting Young Runaways report was launched by the NSPCC on 27th November 2006. It followed a study undertaken at the London Refuge.

• A copy of the report and an executive summary can be found at http://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/NewsAndEvents/InformNews/NewsBeyondRefuge_ifna40798.html