REPEAT RUNAWAYS
Isabelle’s case is not isolated.
Social service agencies say they are seeing more youths leaving home – sometimes repeatedly, and for longer stretches.
Care Corner Singapore, which engages about 1,800 youths, has seen about one such case every two months in the past year. Previously, it handled up to four cases a year.
At PPIS Family Service Centre, about 20 such cases have been seen each year over the past two years.
In one extreme case, a youth ran away and returned home about 50 to 60 times.
Some youths are even turning to people they barely know for help.
“It might also be seen as a transactional kind of an exchange where they are provided shelter, roof over their heads, in exchange for other things. Sometimes it’s to the point that it’s in exchange for sexual kind of services,” said Mr Muhammad Zahin Saini, a senior social worker at PPIS.
