Predicting Treatment Termination Due to Running Away Among Adolescents in Residential Care

This study examined data on 8,933 children and adolescents placed into residential treatment facilities. Running away from care is a significant problem as 33.1% of the sample ages 12 and older terminated treatment in this manner. A number of risk factors were identified that are highly associated with treatment termination which can be readily identified at the time of referral. Adolescents who are most likely to terminate treatment by running away are those who have prior histories of running away, are placed into low level facilities, come from low functioning families, and exhibit externalizing-type behavior problems. These data suggest that running away might be reduced through adequate assessment at the time of referral and the development of an intervention package specifically to treat runaway behavior.