when is this on?
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"Every year in this country 100,000 children run away from home. That’s one every four minutes. Yet the clock’s ticking as soon as they set foot out of their homes because within just four hours of hitting the street they will be targeted by a paedophile or pimp.”
These are just some of the shocking facts Will Young exposes in this eye-opening documentary. Taking a break from singing, he steps out onto the streets to reveal the crueller side of childhood. Runaways, children who escape home often to go nowhere except the streets, are an overlooked problem within society.
 In this insightful programme, Young reaches out to many of these so-called 'attention seekers', and far from having no real concerns in life, these young people are afflicted with troubles which no one would expect a grown adult to deal with.
Family break-ups, bullying, sexual abuse and violence are just a few of the distresses these youngsters face in the home. Some are even thrown out of home by their own families.
Once they have left there is often no option of returning. Yet the street is no safe place to hide, and once they are alone, there is no roof to protect them from the dangers of the outside world. Many children end up being abused or they disappear into strangers’ homes. Unfortunately, it's sad fact that if they are not found within 48 hours, they will never be found.
Discovering that there is just one six-bed refuge for runaways in the entire country and that even this is under threat of closure, Young makes a heartfelt effort to investigate the work of the few who care and their enormous impact on human lives. One runaway comments: “It’s a good place to go to get your head together. I don’t know what I would have done if the refuge wasn’t here. I would probably just have walked the streets.”
During his research, Young also follows the tense campaign of a mother in search of her 13-year old daughter who has been missing for eleven months. A police driven poster campaign seems to be the last hope of finding her, but what will the outcome be?
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Last Updated ( Friday, 07 September 2007 )
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