Greyhound offers free bus tickets home to runaway kids | Hacker News Reader

Greyhound offers free bus tickets home to runaway kids

cbsnews.com

56 pointshhs17 comments

> An estimated 6% to 7% of U.S. youth run away from home each year, or more than 1.5 million children and adolescents annually, according to the National Clearinghouse on Homeless Youths and Families.

WTF!? If true, this should be a far bigger issue than most things talked about.

A little clicking turned up the following links:

1. Facts and Figures About Runaway and Homeless Youth -- https://rhyclearinghouse.acf.hhs.gov/news/2019/03/facts-and-...

2. Why they run: An in-depth look at America's runaway youth -- https://www.1800runaway.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Why-T...

Running away is similar to child kidnapping (mostly done by parents and family members without active custody) in that we assume the worst when in reality there are certain circumstances that count but are much less bad than the conclusions you would immediately jump to:

Going to stay at a different relatives house or a friend’s.

Foster kids doing the same.

Going to live with a parent who does not have full custody.

Domestic violence is the "epidemic" that nobody wants to admit exists.

Domestic violence is indeed a big problem, but it would be more correct to say it is endemic, not epidemic.

What percentage of runaways are confirmed runaways, as opposed to being trafficked?

Why do you see it as bad? It's really not. I know multiple people who did as youths (though they could be thought as the more successful end of the spectrum, they're all doing well now and were doing well then).

Not all "runaways" are homeless, though, nor are they even necessarily in a worse spot after doing so.

The idea that a person should stay with their guardians until 18 is a recent societal invention, and is probably more harmful than not.

It's harder than ever to die in America, though it's also gotten progressively harder for youth to get an independent start.

"Running away" (it's more aptly described as "leaving," running implies cowardice) in itself isn't an issue, it's just a symptom of a greater problem: guardians are frequently bad, and the infantilization of society has rapidly progressed to a ridiculous point.

This is a controversial opinion, but one that's shared by almost every close friend of mine: labor laws for adolescents (I hesitate to call them "child labor laws," because infantilizing adolescents is the thing that caused the problem to begin with) have had a disastrous effect on society.

Even in the modern day, a guardian can still rob an adolescent of their earnings in America, codified by law. By any other measure, a person who can force another to work and can take their earnings is a slavemaster.

>This is a controversial opinion, but one that's shared by almost every close friend of mine: labor laws for adolescents (I hesitate to call them "child labor laws," because infantilizing adolescents is the thing that caused the problem to begin with) have had a disastrous effect on society.

I am in full agreement with this opinion. At 14, I was ready to WORK! After school AND during summer! Yet "Child Labor laws" and related bullshit prevented me from contributing to society at a time when I was fully able and willing to.

There are plenty of ways for you to contribute to your society (even labor), you just can't get paid for them: volunteer, clean up, contribute to open-source codebases, etc. I think there's a reasonable argument that the best thing you can do for your society is learn and grow, and we need to support children that wish to do so.

As someone who did contribute to libre codebases and volunteer at that age: it would have been vastly better for me, personally, were I able to sell my labor.

I would have still contributed to libre codebases, but it would have allowed me to become independent faster, and a person can only contribute marginally until they're fully independent.

I worked under the table at a tannery from 15-18. Did not realize at the time that my employer was not providing me with proper protective gear, breaks, or training. In retrospect, $12/hr was not worth the exposure to toxic chemicals and unsafe working conditions.

I'm not sure what your point is. Some people will always do less than ideal things. You were 18 working there, and you still allowed that to happen. We don't stop all adults from working because a few don't pay attention to labor conditions, we make penalties harsher for employers that exploit laborers.

Kids getting abused to the point they run away. I wonder what the percentage of the returning kids (by Greyhound bus) wouldn't use the service if they could start their own life anew and in an economy that would actually allow them that opportunity. I assume from how the economy is shifting to needing a degree for competitive entry. The ones abused by their parents are staying even longer with them and until their degree is finished to afford the whole process.

Finally all American parents can simply just buy a one-way plane ticket for their kids and put them on a bus back! So much cheaper!

Cheaper? Perhaps. Much cheaper? Not usually.

I just looked up some flights from SFO->Seattle

$101 for a round trip, $77 for a one-way flight.

Reminds me of the trick to confess to a crime in the place you want to visit next.

They extradite you, you suddenly realise you have a alibi, win?

> To be eligible for a Greyhound ticket home, those between 12 and 21 years old have to call the NRS hotline, be named on a runaway report and be willing to reunite with their family

It's great Greyhound and NRS work to practically get kids home.

But once a kid's on a runaway report I'm not sure why we'd think this is a good, go to solution. 400 kids / year would be $40,000 in transport which must pale to the other costs around this issue.

Maybe kids are more likely to use it if the authorities are not involved... but there seems something is broken

One of my kids fetched up without money for a ticket at a transit terminal a couple towns away when neither myself or my ex had a car in the days before smartphones.

Pretty simple: phoned the station, they paged the kid, gave him a ticket and a payment form which I was glad to take care of when he got back home.

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