Runaways (BBC1): CELEBRITIES are, more often than not, only required to make themselves look silly when the Children In Need campaign comes round each year.

But chart-topper Will Young was wearing his serious face for this documentary marking the 25th anniversary of the TV fund-raiser.

He was finding out more about the 100,000 children who run away from home every year and was surprised to learn - so shocked that he told us several times - there is only one six-bed refuge for runaways in the whole of the UK. "How have we managed to fail our children so badly?" he asked.

The statistics make grim reading. One in five runaways are aged under 11. One in four ends up sleeping rough if not found within 48 hours of going missing. The longer they're on the streets, the greater the chance of them being targeted by individuals or gangs who use them for sexual exploitation and in the drugs business.

These are clearly children in need of protection from pimps and paedophiles, although Young was shocked to hear of the horrible things that had been done to runaways by adults. "I can't believe these people are out there," he said.

He spoke both to parents who had lost children and runaways themselves. A year ago, 13-year-old Lucy got up, got dressed, took the dog out for a walk and never came back. She's still missing. Lucy, her mother said, wasn't happy with the rules she'd imposed on her. Family conflict is one reason youngsters run away from home. Physical, sexual and emotional abuse are others. They need someone outside the home to talk to about their problems.

The only refuge in the country has had children as young as eight turn up on its doorstep. They can stay only 14 days, leaving social workers and families a short time to work through the problems.

This year, some 300 runaways will end up at the refuge, with the number increasing every year.

The refuge is under threat, with no financial guarantee beyond 2006. Yet Penny Dean, of The Children's Society, was advocating the importance of establishing a national network of refuges.

Home is the last place runaways want to be. Accommodation is needed while they're helped with their problems. It's all very well having a helpline, but follow-up temporary accommodation is a must too.

Young made a concerned guide and presumably many of the runaways were happier talking to him than to a more conventional presenter.

One runaway even turned the tables, asking if he'd ever taken off when he was young. He admitted to running away from boarding school when he was nine, although he fled only as far as his grandmother's house.

Published: 11/11/2004