Children who are abused, neglected or dependent clearly belong in the child protection .
Children who commit crimes are dealt with by the juvenile justice system. And .
yet there are those youths that have not been classified as falling into any of the .
categories already mentioned but who may exhibit characteristics of them all. These .
youths are to as status offenders. .
Status offenders are youths who commit offenses that, if committed by adults, would not .
be considered crimes. A prime example of a status offender is a runaway. Many have .
been victims of neglect and/or abuse. These children are sometimes viewed as the victim .
within the family and sometimes as the perpetrator of having wreaked family havoc.
In some jurisdiction status offenders are helped by the child protection system; in others, .
by the juvenile justice system; and still in others, by social service agencies or in a .
combination of these three systems. Whether it was the child's choice or whether they .
were forced or kicked out of their homes, they are from that point on labeled runaway.
When many people hear the term runaway they automatically think "delinquent". There .
are actually many different aspects of running away. A popular myth regarding youths .
who runaway from home is that they leave home to satisfy an urge for independence or .
that they leave for their own defiant desires. Many researchers have found, however, that the majority of youths who runaway do so because of family problems (Kurtz, Kurtz & .
Jarvis, 1991 a & 1991 b; Mirkin, Raskin, & Antognini, 1984; vanHouten & Golemiewski, .
1980).
Runaway youths have reported a vast array of family problems leading to the act of .
running away. The chronic runaways in Whitbeck and Simon's (1990) study stated .
several reasons for running including parents who were "too strict" or not caring, as well .
as, parents who were repeatedly violent in the home. Brennan, Huizinga and Elliot (1978) .
