Giving Chase When Kids Run Away

Palardy thumbed through the 25 cases. She said she's pretty sure where some of the children are, but she doesn't close the case until they are back home or living somewhere else with a parent's permission.

"He's back," she said, seeing a familiar name on a new runaway report. "He has a 30-year-old girlfriend, and he's 16."

Palardy usually begins an investigation by calling a parent or guardian to make sure the child hasn't returned home and to learn about his or her favorite hangouts. Most important, she tries to get the names and phone numbers of friends. Palardy said she is surprised that some parents can't recall the last name of anyone their child hangs around. But some have kept close tabs, routinely checking their children's cell phones to collect phone numbers of calls going in and out.

If an older child has his or her own cell phone, Palardy said, she'll often try calling it next.

One recent morning, Palardy called the cell phone of a missing 16-year-old Olney boy who she suspects is living with older friends from his job.

"Hey, it's Karen Palardy from Montgomery County police," she said, leaving a message. "I know you left home, and I talked to your mom. I just want to talk to you about what's going on at home and why you left."

She hung up. "He's not going to call me back," she said. Why does she think that? "It's just a feeling," she said, shrugging.

She called the six friends whose names were supplied by the boy's mother, leaving messages asking them to get their friend to call home or call her.

"This boy thinks he can be on his own, but he doesn't realize everyone isn't going to keep putting him up for free," Palardy said.

She usually puts together a flier with a missing youth's photo and physical description and hands it out to neighbors or posts it in restaurants or stores where the teen hangs out. Sometimes, Palardy said, the bold headline of "Missing Child" over the photo embarrasses teenagers enough that they return on their own.

She also checks school attendance records to see if the child is simply avoiding home or dropping out of life altogether.

Every child reported missing is entered into a national database. That way, if children are picked up for shoplifting or pulled over in a traffic stop, police will know they are reported runaways. It also allows police to take runaways into custody and take them home, but Palardy said they try to persuade most to return voluntarily.

"We have cases where we can drag them home, but if they go home on their own, they're ready," Palardy said. "They might be willing to get help or listen to their parents. But if we bring them home, they're angry."

Palardy estimated that one-third to half of the cases she sees are about kids who have run away before. One 13-year-old who had run away seven times recently returned home with Palardy's help, took a shower, changed clothes and took off again two hours later.

Palardy said other police officers have told her that the frustration of seeing the same runaways repeatedly has discouraged them from wanting to investigate missing children cases.

But Palardy, a 20-year veteran who has been working with runaways for four years, said she enjoys talking with young people. She said she tries to remind herself that -- perhaps slowly, but eventually -- 10 to 30 percent of the kids she tracks down will get help or simply outgrow the problem that made them run. That, she said, is its own success.