Expert: Philip Sweeting - 6/2/2007

Question
My 16 year old has ran away several times. I'm told (in Illinois)that he must earn so called points before I can get any help from the ploice dept. here. I've been very involved in his life, and just in the past year he has went from honor roll at school and playing sports to failing this year,dealing drugs, and running away because I won't tolerate this type of behavior. So when I implement punishment, he runs away. Then the police tells me I have to just let him continue this. I want to put him through some type of scared straight scenario before it's too late for him but I can't get help anywhere. Is this right?

Answer
Doesn't sound right to me. In Florida you would file a report with the police and they would list him as a runaway and enter him in a national computer so if any police in the country came across him they could check his name in the computer.If he was listed as a runaway he would be held at a juvenile detention facility until you made arrangements for his return.

You can do a search yourself for the laws in your state on the Internet and searching the term "runaway" or what ever the term for your state would be and find out what the law says.

Or ...just ask the police to show you the law. An obvious question is how does he accumulate these "points" in the legal system if the police don't do anything? You can also check with your local social services that deal with juveniles and get their advice.

Can't believe your police department would be intentionally ignoring the law but I also know that the police generally don't like to deal with runaways....so I guess it's possible they are telling you this with the hope you just go away. In the old days the police used to tell parents that unless they have been gone/missing for 24 hours you couldn't report them....that was bogus then and in light of changes in federal and state laws...the police take a report right away.

Below is a Florida law that is intended to help parents in your situation... and I believe your state must have a similar law.......:

984.071  Information packet.--The Department of Juvenile Justice, in collaboration with the Department of Children and Family Services and the Department of Education, shall develop and publish an information packet that explains the current process under this chapter for obtaining assistance for a child in need of services or a family in need of services and the community services and resources available to parents of troubled or runaway children. In preparing the information packet, the Department of Juvenile Justice shall work with school district superintendents, juvenile court judges, county sheriffs, and other local law enforcement officials in order to ensure that the information packet lists services and resources that are currently available within the county in which the packet is distributed. Each information packet shall be annually updated and shall be available for distribution by January 1, 1998. The school district shall distribute this information packet to parents of truant children and to other parents upon request or as deemed appropriate by the school district. In addition, the Department of Juvenile Justice shall distribute the information packet to state and local law enforcement agencies. Any law enforcement officer who has contact with the parent of a child who is locked out of the home or who runs away from home shall make the information available to the parent.

My suspicion is your police department believes since he has ran away before and returned...they believe they are wasting their time by taking a report. But if the law requires them to take a report...then they must. Hope this helps.