Teenage runaways rise with holidays

At least four or five times every month, worried Kaua`i parents call the police to report their teenager has run away.

That’s the bad news.

The good news, according to Lt. Alvin Seto of the Kaua`i Police Youth Services Division, is that almost always – on Kaua`i, at least – the errant teens return home.

“For some reason, (runaways) increase during the holiday season and during the summer,” Seto said. “There hasn’t been a drastic increase this year.

It’s almost the same.” Runaways here “are mostly school-age, upper junior high,” he said. Females outnumber males.

“They usually return after a few days. Most of them eventually come home,” Seto added.

Running away in Hawai`i is not a criminal offense. But if the journeying teen is persistent, they can be referred to family court or to counseling and, in some extreme cases, may be placed in a foster home.

“We have contracts with the state and federal government to provide services” and temporary shelter to runaways and homeless kids, said Laverne Bishop, program director at Hale `Opio Kaua`i Inc.

Bishop, who has worked for Hale `Opio for 25 years, said children “are always running to something or from something. And there are other kids who continue to run away who are under the purview of some state agency. (Agencies) may call us for emergency shelter while they try to decide where they are going with a kid.

“Sometimes, parents refuse to pick up their kid and we may shelter that child for a night.” Bishop said her organization sometimes has as many as five runaways; other times, not one.

There are advantages and disadvantages to living in a small community for runaways, according to Bishop.

“There are protective neighbors sometimes who help them. But, on a small island, kids know where to go where they can hide and not be found. I’m not sure we ever get a true picture” of the number of runaways, she said.

Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and[dwilken@pulitzer.net]