Report Reinforces the Importance of National Runaway Prevention Month in November
CHICAGO, Nov. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The National Runaway Safeline (NRS), an organization that works to ensure youth who have run away, are experiencing homelessness or facing crisis are safe and off the streets, identified several shifts in the nature of crisis contacts to their hotline and online crisis services since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to NRS's 2021 Crisis Services and Prevention Report, which has been released today, contacts under age 15 are the fastest growing age group served by NRS. Additionally, the report shows mental health continues to rise dramatically as a reason youth are reaching out to the organization.
The 2021 Crisis Services and Prevention Report was developed in collaboration with Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, with the support of the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB), Administration on Children and Families (ACF), US Department of Health and Human Services.
"While it's concerning that such young children are experiencing mental health challenges, it's also encouraging that they are proactively seeking help," said Susan Frankel, CEO of the National Runaway Safeline. "The majority of youth who contact us are still at home when they reach out, which provides us with a critical opportunity to prevent a runaway incident and connect youth and families to local resources and support."
Youth homelessness impacts nearly 4.2 million young people, ages 13 to 25, in our country each year. Once a young person faces the instability associated with homelessness, whether couch surfing, sleeping on the streets or relying on shelters, the consequences can be far-reaching. Youth may have difficulty finding consistent and healthy meals, struggle with their physical and mental health, face violent situations, and be unable to attend or graduate from school.
"It's essential young people are able to access resources that help them navigate tenuous situations and ultimately ensure their safety; however, many of those resources were eliminated, reduced or significantly changed during the past few years and still may not be operating at full capacity," explained Frankel. "We're collaborating with organizations and programs nationwide to try to fill the gaps left by challenged support systems."
Some of the notable differences in the use of NRS' services between 2019 and 2021 based on data voluntarily reported by crisis contacts include:
- The number of contacts under the age of 15 increased from 3,500 in 2019 to 5,366 in 2021, an increase of 53%. Within this figure, contacts specifically under the age of 12 rose from 284 in 2019 to 718 in 2021, an exponential increase of 153%. Overall, this indicates that youth between the ages of 12 and 14 is NRS' fastest growing population of contacts, with an alarming increase in youth reaching out under the age of 12.
- Between 2019 and 2021, the number of contacts who identified as transgender or non-binary increased by 134%.
- In 2019, 4,690 contacts reported mental health as a reason for crisis intervention, compared to 6,099 contacts in 2020 and 6,554 in 2021, an increase of 40%. Mental health continues as one of the top three reasons youth reach out for help. Prior to 2020, in nearly 48 years of operation, NRS had rarely found mental health to be a top ten reason youth contacted the organization.
- The percentage of contacts citing family dynamics, emotional abuse, and physical abuse as reasons for crisis intervention also increased from 2019 to 2020 and remained elevated in 2021.
- The number of youth residing at home at the time of contact increased from 10,986 in 2019 to 13,925 in 2020 and then decreased to 11,015 in 2021. While this arc aligns with the broad nature of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions across the country, the 2021 figure falls below the rate of youth reaching out from home in 2018, well before the beginning of the pandemic.
"The findings in this report provide NRS with an intimate understanding of the population they serve, and better prepare NRS to assist youth-serving organizations across the United States, as they advocate for and reach out to youth in their own communities," said Melissa Kull, Senior Researcher at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.
The research team analyzed the voluntarily reported data from NRS crisis contacts throughout the 2021 calendar year. The report aims to highlight the demographics of those who reached out for support, the nature of the crises experienced by contacts, and the resources provided by the NRS crisis services team. Additionally, the data will influence ways in which NRS responds to crisis services, prevention efforts, training opportunities, and organizational capacity.
The report reinforces the importance of youth homelessness prevention and education. To educate the public about youth homelessness and raise awareness of the resources available to young people in crisis nationwide, NRS spearheads National Runaway Prevention Month every November.
To access the full data report: https://www.1800runaway.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/2021-Crisis-Services-Prevention-Report-Final.pdf
About the Data Analysis In 2021, NRS collected records for 35,601 contacts from hotline calls, emails, chats, and forum posts involving youth age 21 and younger. The report's analysis includes records for 35,406 contacts, excluding 195 records due to: 97 cases had no data, 96 were labeled "pranks," and 2 lacked valid ID numbers.
About the National Runaway Safeline (NRS) The National Runaway Safeline (NRS) is a national non-profit organization that works to ensure youth who have run away, are experiencing homelessness or facing crisis are safe and off the streets. Founded in 1971, NRS operates the national communication system for youth ages 12 to 21 and families, providing critical crisis intervention 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Each year, NRS makes hundreds of thousands of connections to help and hope through hotline (1-800-RUNAWAY), online (1800RUNAWAY.org) and prevention services. For additional information, visit http://www.1800RUNAWAY.org.
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Media Contact:
Beth Richman
[email protected]
312-806-8999
Media Contact
Beth Richman, National Runaway Safeline, 1 312-806-8999, [email protected]
SOURCE National Runaway Safeline
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