On a Monday morning, a helpline worker answered a call from an anxious parent whose 15-year-old son hadn’t come home the night before. By lunchtime, they had also heard from a 14-year-old who had skipped school and was too afraid to return, and a 17-year-old girl who said she wanted to get on a train and never come back.
By Wednesday evening that week, they had spoken to a missing 14-year-old in foster care who had been abused and was at risk of suicide, a 16-year-old girl who wanted to disappear with her nine-year-old sister to protect her from conflict, and a mother in tears because her autistic son hadn’t come home.
