BLOOMINGTON - Times have changed since the Ozzie and Harriet era when parents could safely ignore threats from their children about running away from home. | Runaways learn life lesson at Project Oz | National hot line gets 100,000 calls a year

At a time when an estimated 1.3 million children are reported missing each year, parents are far more likely to take such threats seriously. And police in Illinois are now required to accept any report of a missing person, regardless of the circumstances or jurisdiction of the disappearance.

In McLean County, police and social service agencies deal with runaway children on a regular basis.

Project Oz, a Bloomington-based, nonprofit organization that helps children in crisis at home and on the street, handled about 300 crisis calls involving youths during the 12 months ending June 30. About half of those cases involved a runaway situation, said Lisa Thompson, Project Oz vice president.

The Normal Police Department was involved in 113 missing persons cases in 2007, most of them involving runaway teens, Assistant Police Chief Kirk Ijams said. Bloomington police responded to 280 calls last year involving runaway teens and 103 so far this year.

"It's almost a daily thing," Bloomington police Lt. Joe Butcher said.

Butcher said officers take any reports made in person at the department, but the response may differ depending on several factors, including the child's age and circumstances of the disappearance. The reality is that a young child who may be in danger receives more immediate police attention than an older, chronic runaway, said Butcher, a 37-year veteran of the force.

If officers have possible leads on the location of a runaway, they will follow up. And all officers have access to pending runaway reports. Recently, police searched five locations for two teens before the runaways returned home, Butcher said.

Project Oz estimates about 88 percent of the runaways found by authorities are returned home. Another 10 percent are placed with guardians. The rest become wards of the state and move to a foster home if no guardian is willing to take them.

Mandated reports

Inconsistency in reporting was one of the reasons cited by State Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, for his sponsorship of a state law mandating law enforcement agencies take reports of missing persons from anyone who comes to a police station.

"There will be no more saying, 'It's just the weekend. Maybe she'll be back Monday,'" Brady said.

Negotiations between legislators and police departments ranging in size from small towns to the city of Chicago resulted in a law that requires police to seriously consider the concerns of family members, he said.

"If someone shows up in your lobby and cares enough to be there, you take the report," Brady said. "Even if it's the fourth time the child has run away, the parents are still trying to let you know they're missing their child."

Under the new law, police must give citizens who file reports contact information for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children if the missing person is younger than 18, or the National Center for Missing Adults if the person is older than 18.

Police cannot refuse to take a report, regardless of the length of time the person has been missing or the fact that the disappearance may be voluntary. Information gathered on runaway minors must be entered into state and national police databases, according to the law that became effective in August.

Local police agencies have drafted new policies to meet the requirements of the Missing Persons Identification Act.

Keeping kids home

But before a trip to the police station is necessary, adults should intervene to address the issues behind any plan to run away, said Peter Rankaitis, president of Project Oz.

"Most of the time it's a family conflict that's going on," Rankaitis said. "Kids can't take the stress of a parent who has lost a job, or there's a recent divorce, or a single parent who is bringing in a new person to parent the child."

The average age of runaways seen by Project Oz is 14½, but children ranging from 10 to 17 are among those sought by authorities each year, according to Project Oz.

While most children are found close to home, police and child welfare workers are keenly aware of the dangers children face on the streets - even for a short time.

"Very serious things can happen," Rankaitis said. "Unfortunately, more people know more ways to exploit young people."

Statistics indicate the more times a child leaves home, the more distance they might travel, he said.

"It's important that a community responds to the first time a youth runs away," Rankaitis said. "Somebody needs to pay attention, because if you can intervene then, you won't have youths disappearing into the streets or being exploited."

Returning home

While Project Oz is not involved in searching for missing youths, it works with police and families on solutions for runaways who have been found.

When a youth is located, police may contact Project Oz to assess the child's situation. Allegations of abuse are documented, and counseling may be recommended. If conditions are unsafe at home, a Project Oz host family can take the child until the situation improves.

As a host family for Project Oz, Melissa Plourde and her husband, Rick, have taken more than 100 children into their home in the past several years. The nature of the crises will vary, but the need for temporary shelter while things are sorted out does not change from child to child, Plourde said.

"We treat them like family. We like it to be like a safe haven when they come here," she said.

Runaway children who cannot return home are among the short-term visitors at the Plourde home in Normal.

The stories of what the children are running away from are heartbreaking, said Plourde, a mother of four.

"As a society, we don't realize the need that exists in this area," she said. "There are more hurt and damaged kids under 18 than people are aware of."