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my son came to us at 14, and when things would get too much, he would run away. I think that if I could just wait him out, he would come home on his own. Since his is a foster kid, I have to call the police after he has been gone for one hour. The police would generally yell at me for "allowing" the kid to run away. The state trooper one time actually threatened to charge me with neglect because I did not try to stop him from leaving. His last runaway was in July (he's 17 now), and I absolutely insisted to the police officers that they charge him for the destructition that he did, usually they either tell him to stop doing that or take him to the hospital so he can get "help." As if he is not in therapy or anything. The judge really got his attention, the judge fined him and told him that if he did it again, he would sentence him to the maximum he could. We have worked out with ds a plan that when he feels the need to "run away", he just has to tell me that he needs some time, and he can leave. Officially, it is not running away, if I know he is leaving and that he plans to come back, so I don't have to call the police. This has really worked well for us, he usually comes back in about 20 or 30 minutes. I know some of the change is maturity and some is increased attachment.
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