My co-blogger Julie recently did an article on a runaway child, missing from school and it reminded me of the time my own teenager ran away. It was completely unexpected from my point of view, she wasn’t angry, she hadn’t gotten in trouble, and in fact everything seemed to be going just fine, that week. She ate dinner and went to bed happy. Saturday morning when I went to wake her up, she was gone and the bedroom window was open.

Apparently one of her friends had told her that once you turn seventeen the police won’t look for you if you run away. So she thought she’d just pack up all of her stuff, climb out the window in the middle of the night, call a taxi and move out. Then she wouldn’t have anyone telling her what to do anymore. She had a couple hundred dollars saved up in the bank so she thought she had it made. What she didn’t know was that if you are a state ward the police have to look for you no matter how old you are.

The state police came out to the house to take a statement and pick up a photo. It was their third trip to our house that month regarding the same child. I mentioned to the officer that she had money in the bank and that I was absolutely sure she would need it right away. It was around ten in the morning and he said he had to go past the bank on his way back to the station anyway, so he’d stop by and flag her account.

A couple of hours later I got a call from the police post. The officer had picked her up at the bank trying to make a large withdrawal and she wasn’t happy. He said he had her handcuffed in the office and she was refusing to answer any questions. He had confiscated her belongings and he’d like me to come and pick her up. She’d only been gone about twelve hours. I still laugh when I remember that day. Teenagers think their parents are so dumb.

She ended up telling me weeks later that she had meant to get up early and go get her money out of the bank before we realized she was gone. That was a good plan and it would have worked. Unfortunately, she over slept. She said she started getting suspicious, and almost ran, when the cashier told her she needed to check with her supervisor, before she could give her the money, and it took quite a while. When she finally decided she should run, she turned to leave and there was our officer, greeting her by name. Her friends were waiting for her outside in their car. They saw her walk by them in handcuffs.

Oops…They Lost a Kid!
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