Greyhound sold ticket to runaway teen

its parents like these who cant take care of their children that ruin everything for the rest of us!!!! maybe if you were paying attention to your child maybe she would have never left your house! its not greyhounds fault this woman is clearly not paying attention to her child. i attend a boarding school and use greyhound to get home for the holidays..... im 17 as well... i hope there are no other mothers like this woman because i dont want to end up having to show my passport, ID, a letter from my parents or whatever just to get on a bus! take care of your children and dont ruin the smallest bit of freedom we still have.

I think the greyhound bus rules are acceptable. At the ages 15 and up kids have the right to choose where they want to be. And if it doesnt work out for them then whos fault is it? Theirs. Some teens runaway because of their home life. And who has the right to tell a kid at 15 or older that they should stay at a place where they feel unhappy? im not saying that its okay for teens to runaway if they have a good life and are looking for attention. I just think that kids 15 or older have the right to make difficult decisions. Parents need to stop flipping out. Obviously your kid ran away for a reason. But i don't see anyone asking why a child would want to runaway from their home. The greyhound does well to help runaways get home. It's not their responsibility to keep track of your children. Keep an eye on them if you don't want them running away. Don't blame other people for your mistakes.

The mother is absolutely right. Two weeks ago a fifteen-year-old girl ran from Florida and purchased a bus ticket to L.A. Our organization, Thursday's Child, recovered her and brought her back. Cost of the bus ticket—$200. Cost to return her—$5000. She had to be accompanied back and the trip needed to be by plane. Greyhound has their Home Free program to return runaways back home, but only those who are not flight risks. This girl had been raped by two men two years ago and now has a lot of serious issues. Had she not gotten a bus ticket, she would have remained in her area. As it turned out, she sat next to a returning soldier on the bus and had sex with him in the bathroom of the bus. She is now in a treatment hospital and will shortly go into a residential program. How difficult is it for Greyhound to require adult guardians to purchase tickets for minors, even if the minors ride alone? So, while Greyhound helps runaways get back, they also enable them to run cross continent. Not too cool.

Greyhound has no responsibility for your 17 year olds actions. We're not talking about a child here. We're talking about someone who is months away from having full legal rights. Greyhound didn't sell a cross country ticket to an eight year old here. Parents need to grow the hell up and stop lashing out. Guess what, you don't need ID to fly either. If you don't have ID your luggage will simply be put in a specially marked pile and it won't get put on the plane until you do. Try it sometime if you want. First they will try to tell you at the ticket counter that you need ID. Ask them to show you in print where you need an ID to fly. You don't need an ID to move about this country. This isn't a Big Brother state, although some sheeple are turning it into one by whining that the government let so and so do such and such because there is too much freedom. Sit down and be quiet and handle your own affairs and stop asking the nanny state to protect you from everything. I personally believe in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. If you want to be sheeple that's your own business. Now how do I dissolve the political bands that connect me to all the sheeple?

OH please people. Has anyone thought that if the kid wanted to go bad enough she would have found a way. Has anyone bothered to ask why she left? But it can't be the parents fault! No then people would actually have to take responsiblity for their children, and then you couldn't use transportation companies as a scapegoat for your childrens problems with your parenting. Is it the knife that murdered or the person weilding it?

I drive for Greyhound. This person commonsense is so on the money. It's not that we are behind the time. Not that we are not the airlines. We are radically different. As the person pointed out. We pick up people at closed agencies and on the side of the road if the station is closed. Should all the drivers be like bartenders and be able to decide who is old enough?

Like myself and other parents who have runaway teens out there...GREYHOUND SHOULD BE RESPONSIBLE!!!! iT IS THERE POLICY TO CHECK ID and they sold my daughter a bus ticket as well. They assisted in my teen to runaway along with others. My 17yr old daughter ran away to be with a man who she met online, who is close to 30 yrs old. Greyhound would'nt even tell us that my daughter bought a bus ticket unless the local police asked them for the info. WHAT HAPPEN TO PARENTS RIGHTS? Greyhound does offer free rides to runaway teens to get back home, but only when instructed to do so by local police departments. For all of you out there, that makes the comments that we live in a society of lawyers and people trying to make a quick buck...HOW MUCH IS YOUR CHILD WORTH TO YOU??? cuz apperently you have not been throu the horror of not knowing where your child is at!! ITS CALLED CHANGING THE LAWS NOT MAKING A BUCK!! Teens, runaway to near by areas (hide out at friends mostly) rarely do they go outside the city limits...and only stay away long enough to cool off. You all are worried about the alternative of hitch hiking?...wake up..how many of you would stop and help a teen who has their thumps out?? or a teen that holds up a sign that reads "need money OR food"..Not this parent...I would tell them to GO HOME!! Besides, teens today are not that stupid, they know how to get around town and they know the dangers of hitch hiking..at least the city kids do. Taking a city bus is one thing...taking a charter bus is another story...and besides an Airline would not sell or transport a teen without parents approval, and they still check ID..so how does a bus company? WHEN A COMPANY LIKE GREYHOUND PUTS OUR CHILDREN ON THEIR BUS AND TAKES THEM WHERE EVER THEY WANNA GO....AND DOES NOT TELL PARENTS WHERE THERE CHILD WENT...ISNT THAT AIDING AND ABBEDDING A RUNAWAY??? I do believe that is breaking the law...isnt it?? SO HOW COME NO ONE HAS BEEN ARRESTED?????

Thank god not everyone has to have ID to ride greyhound. A lot of people, for one reason or another, don't have it, and a lot of minors need to ride it who aren't capable of getting it. I actually had to put a runaway back on the bus back recently and greyhound was good enough to not only give him free fare, but let him ride back without ID. This whole thing is just misplaced idiocy. I'm sorry the woman's daughter ran, but that has zero to do with greyhound who, as another commentator pointed out, provided if nothing else a safe alternative to hitching. This issue isn't even worth talking about.

Here we go the bleeding hearts are now praying for those with common sense. Our country is ruled by people who can sue companies because their coffee is too hot and their fast food made us too fat. Our education system is not only flawed but it is designed right now to best serve our weakest students and our high school athletes and leave the future leaders of our country and companies to either work harder on their own or seek private education. Why is it our country is falling behind the world? Its simple, people don't take responsibility for themselves. There are thousands of capable teenagers who with the knowledge of their parents take trains daily to get around cities and who often use longer transportation options to visit friends and relatives. So what has it come to these responsible young adults can no longer do this because of a run away? Who by the is old enough to drive so I guess if this young lady took her car to florida this article never could have happened. There are warmings on everything these days because responsibility is taken away from us. Bottom line is that this parent wants to put the responsibility of her children on an hourly wage worker for the bus company. Great parenting! Don't you dare pray for me for wanting our country to rise above stupidity and ignorance. Pray for everyone who uses and abuses the many outs and systems in place so that our citizens and non citizens can sue whom they want and blame who they want for their failures as common sense following citizens.

Wake up people! OBVIOUSLY the mother knows there are other issues with her daughter, but the article isn't about THAT, it's about Greyhound selling a ticket to a RUNAWAY TEEN. What's the mom supposed to talk about in it? Society's permissive and dismissive attitude about runaways is the major part of the reason we have SO MANY of them. These kids KNOW that the odds are in THEIR favor if they want to take to the streets, even at age 12 or 13. It's sad, but ABSOLUTELY true. All the 'she'd have run away anyway' and 'it's the mom's fault' comments are so entirely ignorant AND representative of the wider spread problem that loving parents run into when trying to tackle the ills of society that make this EPIDEMIC of runaways possible. The fact that she'd have probably done it another way makes it ok that they sold her the ticket? 2 'wrongs' make a 'right'? She wouldn't have been able to run BY WAY OF BUS if they simply wouldn't have sold her the ticket without ID, or had declined to sell her one if the ID she may have produced showed her to be under the age of 18. This would in no way prevent parents from letting their children travel under age. Said parents would simply have to PURCHASE the kids' tickets. People like the commentors here are the biggest part of this mother and daughter's problem. I know, I know...it's just plain easier to ignore and blame than it is to help fix the problem...especially when it's someone else's kid. YES, she could have, and probably would have found another way to go....leading me back once again to the overall permissive attitude of this society that would ALLOW the girl - who apparently comes from a home where she's loved - to run in MANY other ways. It's not just the bus company that's screwed up, it's the laws, the lack of help from agencies, the honoring of the teens "rights" over the parents' concern for their safety, the society who is willing to let the kids screw up their lives (and unfortunately, even possibly lose them)...I could go on and on. Now, we COULD lay down and say 'it's just too overwhelming, there are too many ways they can go if they really want to go' (which is pretty much what happens with most of us)...but the truth of the matter is, these things can only be tackled and fixed ONE AT A TIME in order to begin to make things better, to make this runaway epidemic not so acceptable. But THIS MOM isn't laying down and taking it quietly, and I RESPECT HER IMMENSELY for that. From one parent to another, I am VERY PROUD and SUPPORTIVE of, as well as THANKFUL FOR this mom for speaking out to try and prompt a change in Greyhound's irresponsible policy. Ever think if we made it unacceptable as a society that kids that don't have a good reason to run might think twice about doing it in the first place? Think they'd go if they knew that some stranger was likely going to care enough to report to the cops that the kid appeared to be underage and roaming the streets past curfew? Think they'd try and buy a bus or plane ticket if they knew they couldn't without being 18 and having ID to prove it? Think that just those few things MIGHT make it more trouble than it's worth to them? Maybe not for some, maybe so for others is probably the true answer...but still a responsible societal attitude to try to exercise some commense sense protective measures that will help a few families along the way. Definitely worth it. To all of you that are offering your VERY UNWARRANTED and MISPLACED judgement on the mom: all I can say is you ought to be careful about being so quick to judge, as the streets are JUST WAITING to claim YOUR kids, neices, nephews, neighbor kids, etc...no matter what kind of a stellar, attentive parent you think you are. And as for putting everything on the girl and her choices...well, we all know that some of the best decisions of our lives were made in our teen years, huh? 'nuff said about that. I agree with a SINGLE commentor below (thank you!) when I express the following sentiment... SHAME ON YOU people for the judgements you've carelessy slung around here. I hope you NEVER have to encounter the torment of the uphill battle against such ignorance as is presented here, in a situation SO crucial as protecting a child... See, her kid's back now, she's safe. It's YOUR kid she's trying to help you protect for a future day you can't even see coming. I'll pray for you. Seriously.

It is not unreasonable to expect bus companies to ask for identification and to not sell tickets to minors. I don't think the family of this young lady would argue that ultimately, she is their responsibility. I don't think the family in this case would argue that there are deeper issues that will need to be dealt with regarding their daughter. All the comments about them taking blame for the situation...moot points, all. None of us know what's gone on behind closed doors, and even the best of parents can find themselves in a situation where their child makes poor choices. And I suspect the girl in this case would have just found another way to accomplish her goal even without the lack of procedure by the bus company. That doesn't mean their should be none. If it weren't for this story, would you all be so against the notion? I highly doubt it.

I am a mother of a 14yr old runaway. This is her fourth time running away from home. She has been gone for almost a month today. OBVIOUSLY, none of these comments are based on having the experience of YOUR OWN child being able to run away with society's helping hand outstretched! IT IS a shame that Greyhound doesn't ask for f'ing id! Why can you NOT buy a plane ticket at 14 or 17 years old? IT IS a shame that ATT phone company refuses to give you the phone numbers from where your runaway last called you from. But if she is murdered, a judge will sign a subpenia to find what number she called from to find her killer. WAKE UP PEOPLE! The rate of children being brainwashed into dying on our streets these days means that being a teenage runaway is now an epidemic. But it's all par for the course of this world when people leave cold hearted, hurtful comments like these about mother who probably did what she could to love her daughter and try to make sure she was successful in life and doesn't even know if her child is alive or dead tonight. Not every runaway was being neglected and not payed attention to! I eat dinner and talk with my kids everyday about life and their future. So, not shame on momma, SHAME SHAME SHAME ON ALL OF YOU who left those HORRIBLE COMMENTS!!!! Yeah, I think she has probably thought a few times now about what could happen to her hitch hiking teenage daughter before your rude comment was ever even a thought in your tiny litte cranium!

Lets go back to making the parent resposible for their children. This incedent didnt just happen. I am sure there is a history about this child the mother is aware of or should be. I am sure the police are aware of it. Stop blaming Greyhound for this. They transport childen unaccompanied on a regular basis. This policy of allowing childen over 15 to travel has been in affect for many many years and only now its a problem? If your child is going to greyhound to run away you have much deeper problems than this to deal with. Stop wasting everyones time and sit down with your kid and a counselor and actually do somthig to help them.

There is only one person responsible for the teen that ran away....and that's the teen. Quit trying to blame others. Make the teen take responsibility for her own actions. Not all 16y/o drive and not all 16y/0 have a license. So what this mother is saying is that in order for someone to ride on the bus, they would have to get an ID card if they didn't have a DL. That is ridiculous. When I was 16 I rode a train several times from Florida to NJ to visit my grandparents. Riding the bus is no different.

Why do people always need a scapegoat. You need to be questioning yourself and what lead to the situation. I don't know the kid, but there must be a reason as to why she needed to go to Florida and wanted to get away from home. Now lets think about this, would you rather the kid purchase a bus ticket on a bus full of others who purchased tickets, or a young 17 year old female hitch hiking out on the open highway with sexual preditors, murderers, crack heads, and junkies just looking for the right victim, desperate to get somewhere and do whatever it takes. Now I know not every person that rides a bus perfect, but I think there is a better chance of being safe on a bus with people than out on an open road. Everyone needs to take a minute and look at the whole picture before finding a scapegoat like Greyhound, Law Enforcement, Teachers, Scott Norwood (Buffalo Bills wide right, yes he is their scapegoat), you neighbor, and anyone else you want to blame your faults on.....