ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the adolescent runaway as a human service problem in the changed social, economic, and educational context. Running away is an effect of adolescent troubles when it results from problems in the youth's day-to-day existence. Research demonstrates that these problems take three principal forms: personal maladjustment, family conflict, and parental mistreatment. Some youth are psychologically "normal" and leave home seeking adventure. Several investigators have suggested dichotomous classification of runaways. Ideally, agencies and individual professionals will be able to match their service to the specific needs of each individual runaway using the most sophisticated and elaborated diagnostic categories available. The general service issues facing those who would assist runaways are protection, assessment, and placement—either family restoration or alternative living arrangements. The assessment should focus on discovering whether the principal cause of running is adventure or personal maladjustment, family conflict, and parental mistreatment.
