By Duncan Walker BBC News Online

Over 70,000 under-16s go missing for the first time every year

During the first few days that Helen Goring's son Matthew went missing, police tried to reassure her that he probably hadn't gone far from his Sheffield home.

But as the weeks passed she grew increasingly worried that he was in serious danger and at times thought he could even be dead.

It was 10 long weeks later that a poster campaign she had started led to Matthew being found safe and well in Bangor.

The experience has left her convinced that more needs to be done to support children who run away from home - and the families they leave behind.

Distraught

"We were totally unsupported by the police at the time because he was a teenage boy rather than a girl," Mrs Goring said.

He wanted to see what life was like without school, parents, restrictions and all the rest Helen Goring

She turned to the National Missing Persons Helpline and, with the charity's support, began putting up posters and badgering television stations and newspapers to help find him.

Despite all the activity, Mrs Goring said it was a struggle to cope and that she spent much of the time distraught.

"There were days that I though 'that's it, he's not coming back'.

"There was a time when the police said they had found the body of a young man in a burned out shed and that night and the next morning we were seriously worried it was Matthew."

Big Issue

Like many children who run away from home, Matthew gave no word that he was okay and Mrs Goring began searching areas that she feared he could end up in - including those popular with drug users.

Matthew eventually returned home, having spent the previous months selling the Big Issue, building dry stone walls and living in his own flat.

"He wanted to see what life was like without school, parents, restrictions and all the rest," Mrs Goring said.

But while her son came back to a supportive family, she knows that things are far more difficult for many other young people and their families.

Mrs Goring was well aware of the dangers of sexual abuse or violence that face the thousands of young people who go missing each year.

"He was very very lucky, he was only 14 and he would not have been aware of those problems," she said.

Emergency shelters

Mrs Goring has repeatedly called for more support for parents trying to find their missing children and for the young people who run away from home.

She backs the National Missing Persons Helplines' call for a national network of emergency shelters, better information for the families and mediation where it is needed.