Young runaways service goes to Scottish Parliament

Since 2001, Aberlour have been providing support to this extremely vulnerable group of young people and currently provide a range of support services, including Scotland's only refuge for young runaways. Over 9,000 children under the age of 16 run away each year in Scotland and 1 in 6 of those will experience some kind of either physical or sexual assault whilst running. Shockingly, only a third will be reported missing.

Ken Dunbar, Chief Executive of Aberlour Child Care Trust, said: "It's important that we celebrate the ten years of successes that we've had with the Aberlour Young Runaways Service, but we need to keep things in perspective; young people in Scotland are still running away, and still need support from organisations like ourselves, so we must do more to help young people before they reach crisis point.

"Without the generous support of our partners Railway Children, Aviva and the STV Appeal, Aberlour Young Runaways Service could not have made nearly as big an impact and difference to the lives of the young people we've worked with over the years. Glasgow and South Lanarkshire Local Authorities have worked extremely closely with this service and we are keen to work more intensely with other local authorities to ensure we meet the rights and needs of young runaways in Scotland."

Andy McCullough, Head of UK Policy and Affairs for Railway Children, added: "With cuts to frontline children's services left, right and centre, Aberlour Young Runaways Service has to be one of the real success stories at a time when good news is scarce. The work Railway Children does with Aberlour is all about making it easier for children at risk on the streets to come forward, because as long as they feel their only choice is to hide in the shadows, the number of children at risk of exploitation and violence will continue to spiral."

Ken Dunbar, George Adam, Laura Irvine, Andy McCullough and Sharon Orr

George Adam MSP, who hosted the reception at the Parliament said, "For the past ten years, Aberlour Young Runaways Service has done an excellent job of helping and supporting young people in Scotland who have or have been about to, run away. I'm really pleased to be supporting Aberlour to mark this milestone, and look forward to hearing more about their plans for the future."

Sharon Orr, Corporate Responsibility Manager at Aviva commented: "The numbers of children running away in Scotland every year is truly shocking - the fact that this is such a hidden problem in our society makes it hard to believe it's actually taking place on our own doorsteps. Through Aviva's Street to School programme, we are delighted to have been able to continue working with Railway Children to support the crucial services provided by Aberlour Young Runaways Service, allowing us to directly help in protecting young people at risk in Scotland."