Law Should Help Parents And Kids
No one can say whether Rebecca Hedman still would be alive if it had been illegal when she first ran away from home.
But maybe. Maybe she would have been at home, with foster parents or in a recovery program - instead of dead on the bank of the Spokane River. The 13-year-old runaway chose prostitution and drug use instead of rehabilitation. And that was her choice to make, thanks to a 1977 state law that gives children older than 12 the right to leave home legally. That’s a crime in itself.
While it’s important to give young adults a sense of responsibility and independence, complete autonomy is risky with even the most mature teen. Most are dealing with changing emotions and personal upheaval. From one day to the next, a mom or dad laying down the law could be viewed as anything from an appropriate boundary to an unforgivable humiliation. Leaving home may seem like the best alternative to sticking it out.
Suddenly, because of Hedman and other cases, lawmakers are waking up to the fact that parents need some help. Three bills under consideration in Olympia would give some much-needed authority back to parents and to police, who currently can do no more than pick up runaways and drop them off at a crisis shelter. The parents aren’t always notified. The kids can leave any time they want.
When they do, they often head for the streets. There, they encounter drugs, abuse, poverty and danger.
Critics say these runaways often are escaping the same things when they leave home. Hedman herself was sexually abused by a brother in her home. Her parents say the abuse had ended, but a friend and a foster mother of Hedman’s said the abuse never stopped.
So, instead of simply just telling kids, “You can’t run,” and punishing them when they do, legislators should look at the reasons why they run. Some leave to duck strict parents whose rules they don’t like. Others, though, are fleeing something more sinister. A mandatory return to the home would put those teens in as much danger as they’d find on the streets.
Jose Pena, director of United Way of Spokane County, prodded legislators last week to hear kids’ cry for help when they’re running and urged them to consider giving more money to existing treatment centers.
If the law is changed, it should include an immediate hearing to determine where the best place for the teen would be - back at home, in treatment or with foster parents.
That way, everyone’s rights would be safeguarded - as well as the lives of the children.
The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Anne Windishar/For the editorial board