More than 5,000 young Romanians aged under 18 disappeared from home in the last year (April 30, 2018 - May 20, 2019), according to data from the Criminal Investigation Directorate of the General Police Inspectorate presented by Save the Children Romania.

Of the total of 5,078 children who ran away or went missing from home in the past year, 151 are aged up to 10 years, 1,410 are in the 10-14 age category, and 3,517 are older than 14 years.

In 95% of cases these were volunteer departures, most of those who ran away from home being teenagers. Children are leaving home or childcare centers on purpose, for an indefinite period of time, Save the Children Romania said.

The NGO also listed some of the main reasons and risk factors that determine children to leave their families or childcare centers. Among them, the neglect and lack of supervision by responsible adults, repeated family conflicts and child abuse, parents leaving their children with relatives so that they can go work abroad, difficulties in communicating with parents, school dropout and entourage influence/pressure, and the consumption of alcohol and hallucinogenic substances.

Save the Children also said that 5,072 young Romanians aged under 18 were found in the past year (April 30, 2018 – May 20, 2019). Most of them, namely 1,395, were aged between 10 and 14 years.

Save the Children Romania presented the data on May 25 – the International Missing Children’s Day, aiming to send a warning signal about the proportions of a phenomenon with serious and long-term implications.

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