New Study Shows Increase in Chronic Runaways

Chicago, IL, March 17, 2005 - The largest study of its kind to examine children and youth who run away from out-of-home care indicates that the likelihood of youth running away from care in Illinois increased significantly starting in the mid-1990s, more than doubling between 1998 and 2003. According to the study, conducted by researchers at Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago, most of the increase is a result of youth who run more than once from the child welfare system.More than 14,000 Illinois youth ran from care between 1993 and 2003.

The study revealed that moves from one placement to another in the child welfare system significantly increased the risk that a youth would run. A youth with two prior placements is more than twice as likely to run away as is a child in a first placement, the study showed.Where a youth lived while in care also affected the risk of running. Those placed by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) in residential care were about twice as likely to run as those placed in family foster homes and about three times as likely to run as those placed with relatives, other factors being equal.Being placed with a sibling reduced the likelihood that a youth would run away. Substance abuse problems and some mental health disorders increased the risk that a youth would run away. Girls were over 40 percent more likely to run than boys.

Most of the youth who ran away during the period of the study had entered care as adolescents. In-depth interviews conducted as part of the study revealed that many of these youth ran away in search of a sense of normalcy in family relations or living arrangements. The study found that biological families exerted a strong pull on youth and that youth often saw their behavior as a run to family rather than from placement. Some youth interviewed said they were drawn back to their biological families to help their mothers or their siblings.

Researchers said some running could be interpreted as a natural quest by youth to assert their adulthood rather than as a sign of oppositional behavior. They said youth interviewed in the study described themselves as already grown, in large part because they had been taking care of themselves. However, several girls interviewed reported that they had experienced an extraordinary number of challenging experiences and traumas in out-of-home care, among them the death or incarceration of family members, sexual assaults, miscarriages, births, and having a child removed by DCFS.

Researchers for the study analyzed government data collected in the course of caring for the 14,282 youth who ran from DCFS care from 1993 to 2003, and conducted in-depth interviews with 42 youth. During the course of the study foster parents and child welfare professionals were also interviewed.

"Our findings demonstrate the need to create opportunities for foster youth to engage in constructive ways with their peers, connect with caring adults, and for child welfare authorities to treat any run as a serious cause for concern," Mark Courtney, director of Chapin Hall and co-principal investigator for the study said.

The Chapin Hall study was commissioned by DCFS. In 2004 Chapin Hall released studies on the use of residential care by DCFS and the educational experiences of Illinois children and youth in out-of-home care.

Copies of all Chapin Hall studies can be found on the Chapin Hall web site at http://www.chapinhall.org.

Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago is a policy research center dedicated to bringing sound information, rigorous analysis, innovative ideas, and an independent multidisciplinary perspective to bear on policies and programs affecting children. The Center devotes special attention to children facing significant problems, including abuse or neglect, poverty, and mental or physical illness, as well as to the service systems designed to address these problems. Chapin Hall's focus takes in all children. It takes a broad view of their needs, including children's potential as well as their problems, and addresses services and supports -- public and private -- aimed at fostering child and youth development.

* * *