By Kelly Yates and
A LOCAL mother is urging authorities to place a curfew order on her runaway 14-year-old daughter.
In light of last weekend’s tragic car smash which left four youths dead, the Endeavour Hills mother, who wishes to remain anonymous, says she doesn’t understand why 18 and 20-year-old men are hanging out with young teenagers.
She says she sees it first-hand, with older boys picking up her 14-year-old daughter from their family home.
Despite being raised in what the mother describes as a good family home with love and respect, her daughter has recently been expelled from a school in the City of Casey and continuously sneaks out at night.
“Before I had my daughter I couldn’t possibly comprehend why teenagers would be out all night, getting into fights and possibly taking illicit drugs,” she told the News.
“But now I find myself searching the streets until 3am, sometimes even wearing my pyjamas, in search of my daughter.”
She has even contacted the police to make missing person reports on several occasions. She’s tried to contact the Department of Human Services, and local police officers but feels like no-one wants to help.
“Parents have no rights anymore. Teachers don’t or can’t seem to help me,” she said.
“I’ve lost control of my teenager because there are no consequences for these young people.”
According to the mother, if a child is a runaway and safe the police will not do anything.
“Safe, what a joke – they mean not dead,” she said. The mother has this message for the community.
“The next time you see a teenager roaming the streets and you wonder where their parents are, please think of me,” she said.
“A mother that cries nearly every single night, that rings her daughter constantly and is usually hung up on or lied to, is driving around at all hours, and loves her daughter very much.”
Her biggest fear, she says, is receiving the knock on the door from police with news that her daughter is dead.
“My daughter knew some of the kids killed in the accident last weekend,” she said.
“I’m just lucky she wasn’t in that car.”