BUFFALO, N.Y. — More than 10,000 missing child reports across the state were filed last year, according to the New York State Missing Persons Clearinghouse at the Division of Criminal Justice Services. The majority of them were runaways.
The term "runaway" often has a negative connotation. A pilot program is underway to bring those kids home and fix the issues making them run in the first place.
What happens to a child after they run away and are reunited with family? Why did they run away in the first place? Often, they’re just brought back home. This pilot program aims to change that process. Four walls, markers and paper. Simple tools to connect with kids who’ve run away.
“It's not that we are just seeing hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of brand new every day," said Sam Vaughn, director of the Scott Bieler Child Advocacy Center. "We are seeing 500 a year that are brand new. But of those 500, you know, it's probably a thousand because half of them are just reappearing, reappearing, reappearing.”
Vaughn says they've already seen more than two dozen kids in the past few months.
“I would say we probably get five or six missing child reports from Buffalo police a week," Vaughn estimated.
He explains the reality of so many runaways, is they are trying to fill a void at home.
“Going back home might be what you want, but if there's no food there, then going back home is going to be a really hard thing to sell,” he said.
Once a child is brought to the CAC, they are checked out at the clinic, then a forensic interview takes place. Conversations that lead to the heart of the issue, like food insecurity.
“We can help make sure that the family gets linked with, you know, supplemental services and food assistance services," Vaugh explained.
Vaughn says they’re finding kids justice, help and healing, hoping to break the cycle of kids not in the system.
“But for them to really talk about what happened and what they're running from, or to it's a longer engagement process,” he said.
“Oftentimes what we're finding is, you know, that isn't always better for them," said Tim Williams, program manager of the New York State Missing Persons Clearinghouse at the Division of Criminal Justice Services. "The kids are making decisions based on limited information. And a lot of times they're being victimized, right? They are being forced into committing crimes.”
Williams says in 2024, there were 12,000 missing child reports across the state. Of those, 95% were categorized as a runaway.
“One example is a missing youth who was not in the best living situation," Williams explained. "Unfortunately, she had to be placed outside of where she went to school. She was no longer able to play volleyball.”
Williams said she was put in a program and the runaway behavior stopped. Three words just needed to be asked.
“What's going on?” Williams said.
The conversation will give kids a solid foundation for a brighter future.
“We really look at this as every kid deserves the ability to let us know what they need," Vaugh said. "And unfortunately, if they have to run away to do that, we want to be able to help.”
Because every child deserves to be just that.
Once this program in Erie County is fully up and running, the goal is to take their blueprints and make this youth runaway coordinator a fixture in all of our communities.
Also happening for the next two years, the Youth Justice Institute through partnership with the University at Albany, will research how the pilot program works. Did it lead to our goal of better outcomes for these children in better situations?
There has been another pilot program underway and recently, the second Missing Child Rescue Operation took place late last month. The focus was the Capital Region. In just three days, a team of 90 people sat in a hotel ballroom and found 71 kids.
The 24-hour hotline to report a missing child is (800) 346-3543.
