The Child Welfare League Foundation said that teenagers made up about 92 percent of the missing minors cases it has dealt with over the past 10 years, with most of them having left home due to a conflict with their parents.
The foundation said in a news release that it has since 2010 handled 613 cases of missing children, of which 565 were aged 12 to 18.
Last year 5,677 teenagers were reported missing, of which 3,961, or about 70 percent, ran away from home, the foundation said, citing National Police Agency data.
The percentage of teenagers among cases of missing minors has grown significantly over the years, foundation member Hsu Ching-ling (許慶齡) said earlier this week.
The foundation said that a survey it conducted earlier this year of people who left home in their adolescence found that 84 percent of respondents cited “family factors” as their reason for leaving.
Phrases such as “do not bother coming back if you have the guts to walk out the door” and “how unaccomplished you are” were among the remarks that made respondents want to run away the most, it said.
About 30 percent of respondents said that they would not have run away had they and their family had better communication, 26 percent said that they wished their family had paid more attention to them and nearly 15 percent said that they wanted their family to respect their opinions more and not interfere too much in their lives.
Parents sometimes find teenagers hard to understand, but they should never use abusive language, say mean things or resort to physical violence when talking to their children, the foundation said.
Parents should not succumb to rage, as teenagers face unpredictable dangers or exploitation after they leave home, it said, citing the importance of communication.
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