Why Foster Children Run Away and What Foster Parents Can Do About It

Why Foster Children Run Away and What Foster Parents Can Do About It

Why do foster youth runaway? This question plagues our foster parents, GALs and child welfare workers. Youth run away for all sorts of reasons. Things like verbal, physical and/or sexual abuse can trigger running away. But there are also other reasons, some more subtle than others. I have never run away, but I was triggered at times and wanted to. I was in an abusive foster home for about five years. The one thing that prevented me from running away was my foster siblings. I didn’t want to leave them because I felt that I was responsible for their well-being. This is part of my story and just one of the many stories of Hawaii’s amazingly resilient former and current foster youth. Through interviewing former foster youth, whose identities will remain anonymous, I have learned many things about why foster youth run away.