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April
l97l
found a 13-year-old runaway in Berke–
ley, California. The girl was "stoned"
on methadrine and was being "passed
around" by severa! young men in theír
20's.
But why? Why does a young teen-age
girl - barely into pnberty - seek to
escape the sanctity of borne, farnily,
friends? Why does she accept a life
uncertain at best, lethal at worst?
PLAIN TRUTH staff rnembers inter–
viewed Captain Mclnerney, officer in
charge of Haight-Ashbury area, San
Francisco when it was a Mecca for
thousands of runaways.
When asked why teen-agers carne
here, he replied: "Most of the kids
carne because they thought they'd be
able to live here. Live the rest of their
life in the Haight-Ashbury! They truly
believed it.
"The girls would start living with
sorne guy in a commune, in a pad - a
whole pile of them, fifteen or twenty in
a pad... .
"lt's a peculiar thing, the runaways
would be revolted when they
first
went
into a pad. But, they had to go because
that was the scene. That was the thing
to do - you live with hippies
in
one of
these pads. And after a while, the
revulsion would leave thern and
any
degrading thing was possibte to them.'
They wouldn't think anything of it.
We'd get young kids in, fourteen- and
fifteen-year-old g irls, who would curse
continually! And they weren't really
mad at you, ít had just become a part
of tbeir vocabulary." (Emphasis ours
throughout.)
The Unconscious Hook
Many of the runaway youngsters in
these subcultures became enslaved vic–
tirns before they knew what was
bappening.
When
na'ive
youths come into such
an area, they are easily rnolded by
strong personalities. And it is invariably
the
wrong kind
of leadership. Many
teens quickly lose the
will
to get out,
even though it is repulsive to them at
first.
But there is a reason why teen-agers
give up the security of borne and
friends to become a part of the Run–
away Generation- a part of the "bum–
mer scene."
The
PLAIN TRUTH
Parents to Blame?
Captain Thomas W. Frost, director
of the Chicago Police Youth Dívision
said youths run away because of "fami ly
instability." Many come from
brokm
homes.
Even from supposedly ''unbro–
ken" bornes, runaways say parents are
unhappily married or unhappy as
individuals.
In most runaway cases, there is con–
flict at home forcing teen-agers to look
for a better l!fe e!sewhere. The runaway
life looks more attractive than the drab
aod often unhappy family life.
Al Naes, Salina, Kansas probation
officer commented: "By running away,
they're asking for
HELP
!"
Let's listen
to sorne of these runaways
"c1·ying for
help,"
aod uodcrstand the
ca11se
of tbis
serious and dangerous social problem.
"Nobody Cares About Me"
"Hang my parents. They don't care
about me."
"My mom never really loved me."
"They don't do anything for me. Oh,
they give me
things
all right. But every–
body has those."
"I never could get along witb my
parents. Nobody talks to me."
Parents, in all too many cases, do not
know how to !ove their children - or
how to show !ove. Sometimes they are
afraid
to show it.
But parents are not solely to blame.
Many runaway-center officials say that
their yonngsters have little concern for
parents, even when the parents try very
hard to reconcile the family.
Nevertheless, the burden of responsi–
bility always falls on the parents. They
build the attitudes within their children.
Many parents have actually created psy–
chological Frankenstein Monsters
their children simply will not listen to,
obey, or in any way
be
controlled by
their elders.
As a result, many do not want their
runaway teeo-agers to come back, sim–
ply because they wouldn't be able to
cont1·ol
them. One judge said that one
out of ten families refuses to take their
youngster back.
No Discipline or Guidance
Paradoxically, teen-agers claim they
want
parental discipline and they cite
21
the lack of discipline as a cause in mak–
ing them run away.
One young girl
runaw~y
said that
when she "first started taking dope,
people kept saying, 'Venus, don't do
it'.... I just wish there had been some–
body to keep me from doing it
!"
Another girl said she simply did not
want to live at home. She didn't think
her parents
loved
her. This runaway
told officials that her parents had
"never
disciplined her."
L.
Francis Drake, of the Salina,
Kansas Police Department, said that the
runaways crave affection and want sorne
discipline.
The only reason one teen-ager could
give for running away was: "l'm
unhappy. Nobody CONTROLS me at
home!"
One police officer who deals in juve–
nile problems said it is foolish to
assume you can
le~
a youngster go
undisciplined for years and then
st~d
denly
start disciplining him, expecting
an immediate change. To implement an
ironclad, drastic program of correction
afte r a child has grown up in a per–
missive atmosphere for years could even
came
him to run away.
It takes a lot of patience, time, under–
standing, !ove and sympathy - espe–
cially if the years from infancy onward
have not been used to build a bridge
between parent and child.
Mrs. Bonnie Miller, a Pomona, Cali–
fornia policewoman who handles run–
away cases said: "Sometimes you just
can't blame tbe kids . . . The parents
may become concerned and crack down
after having been
permiu ive
for years.
The youngsters rebel, and the parents
can't understand why."
Curiosity and Ignorance
Most runaways are
leaderless
and
very nai've. Their youthful curiosity
leads them into the runaway life, about
which they know little or nothing.
Many want to join the hippie scene.
Teens often see in movies and on
television such events
'<lS
Woodstock
and other gatherings. Hippie life is
depi cted as nothing but
f¡tn. parties
and
excitement.
They have not been taught
the effect of these drug-saturated gather-