Is there any sort of database or any sort of support group for people who are runaways, or who are considering it? I ask because odd as it sounds, I'd want to help and counsel such people, to give them safer alternatives. I'm one of those types who while I'm not scared by what I see on UM, I'm saddened by it and the many sorrows of the world. I'm sort of intense in that way--The sorrows of the world hang in my mind. I'd just like to help people who feel they have no escape but to run, to show them that running as appealing as it might seem, only leads to more problems and possibly danger.

I was first inspired by the film Thirteen. Odd as it sounds, I always wanted to "save" girls like that. To help them see they're better than they think. In a real life example, I knew a girl once who ran away, from Texas to Florida, she was 16 or so at the time. She wasn't heard from for months by anyone and she ended up with some seedy guy in Florida. Somehow she came back home to her family, but I can only imagine the things she went through in her travels. It depresses me greatly.

I guess I'm just feeling sort of sad and sentimental but I look at UM and read things and I hear of so many young, likely promising, lives snuffed out--Or so many decent people disappearing,and it saddens me. It just makes me wish I could go back in time and save the people featured in UM, save them from their fates--But since that's not possible, I'd like to try and prevent other runaways or messed up lives or other innocents from disappearing into mystery. I'd like to prevent more Unsolved Mysteries, if it's possible, by helping and counseling those most in need, most vulnerable.

Like I said, I'm one of those melancholy types who is less frightened by UM and more saddened by it.

I'm not sure of any database but I've thought a lot about runaways myself after viewing the Charley Project. Many of the missing persons are thought to have been abducted/killed/ lost in the wilderness or at sea, but the more recent entries (2000s on) are mainly runaways. The good thing is that most of these runaways do return (hence why there are very few in earlier years on the Charley Project). But that doesn't stop them from being in grave danger out on their own. Also, all those people who did run away in the past and returned home, like you said, have probably faced severe trauma.

I know what you mean; you want to prevent it. The only thing I can think of now is to literally google "should i run away" and things like that into google and see what you find. A lot of young people will ask online and you may be able to tell them no and talk them out of it.

I found this website by just doing a "runaway" google search:

http://www.1800runaway.org/

They list volunteer opportunities on the website. It looks like a great place to start!