• KidsCall is a joint effort that Travelers Aid International and AT&T began in 1992 to encourage young people who have left home to re-establish contact with their home community. Travelers Aid has been working for 150 years to help people who are away from home and have no resources of their own.
• The ultimate goal of KidsCall is to encourage runaway youth to reconnect with their home community and make a transition to a safer, healthier life. If the young person decides to return home (or to another supportive environment), Travelers Aid is the best agency in the community to help him or her get there safely.
• Should the young person choose not to return home, Travelers Aid can offer other supportive services and, if necessary make referrals to other agencies for assistance.
• KidsCall differs from other runaway hotline programs in that the call will be placed from a Travelers Aid location. A Travelers Aid staff person will be immediately available to help, should the young person decide it is time to make a change.
• The runaway youth does not need to call a parent or guardian -- who is often the very reason for leaving home. They are often leaving environments of neglect, family conflict, and physical or sexual abuse.
• AT&T pays for the calls that a young person makes from a Travelers Aid location.  
• Recent government reports estimate that there are 1.3 million runaway youth in the United States. There are no accurate counts on the number of "throwaway" children, those who are left to fend for themselves because their parents and guardians have pushed them from the home and do not care where they are or what they do.

For more information contact Travelers Aid International at (202) 546-1127 or click on bar below to send us e-mail.