This is how you get help!Tina calls „147 Rat auf Draht“

The background

Tina, 14 years old, ran away from home two days ago because her father was drunk and assaulted her mother for the first time. When her mother refused to leave the home with Tina, she left on her own. She was fed up having to watch her father flip out. She and her mother lived in permanent fear that he would hit them. And then it happened.

Tina was able initially to stay with her friend Susanne. But then Susanne’s mother discovered that Tina had run away from home. She told her that she would have to leave, although it was already 11 p.m. Tina and Susanne left the house together. Tina called 147 Rat auf Draht from a nearby public telephone.

The call

Hallo, is that Rat auf Draht?

Yes, this is Rat auf Draht. How can I help you?

I’ve run away from home and don’t know where to go.

How old are you?

I’m fourteen and my name is Tina. My friend Susanne is with me. She’s also fourteen.

Hello Tina. Hello Susanne. Has Susanne also run away?

Yes. She doesn’t want to leave me on my own. Her mother threw me out after I’d spent two nights there.

And where are you now?

On a street corner.

And you don’t want to go home?

Definitely not! I’m not going home! I’d rather stay out on the street!

OK, but hold on, Tina, no one will force you to go home before finding out what’s going on. We’d be pleased to help you.

Will you call my parents?

No, don’t worry. We won’t do anything without your permission. We definitely won’t call your parents. Don’t worry. First we’ll talk and try to help you. That way we can find out how you are and what you want so that we can get an idea of how we can help you. If you like, we can arrange for you to stay at the crisis centre for tonight.

What’s a crisis centre?

It’s a place where you can sleep and where you can talk about your problems. You can spend the night there with your friend. And tomorrow we’ll call again and arrange a meeting. Is that OK for you?

Yes, but how will we get to the crisis centre?

Stay on the line and I’ll call them, then we can all talk together and settle where you can go, whether there’s room and what to do next. OK?

Yes, that’s great. OK.

This happened later: Meeting in the crisis centre

Susanne and Tina are passed on to the crisis centre by the counsellor on 147 Rat auf Draht. They are taken in there for the night. Susanne only left home because she didn’t want to leave her friend alone. Now she wants to go back home. Her mother is relieved and picks her up.

Tina stays in the crisis centre. She doesn’t want to go home under any circumstances unless something changes, and she doesn’t want to see or talk to her parents anymore tonight. Because it’s so late and Tina is exhausted, the staff at the crisis centre agree. Next day Tina opens up to the counsellor on 147 Rat auf Draht and explains in tears how often she has had to put up with her father’s aggressive outbursts. After he had hit her mother for the first time, she realised that the boundary had now been finally crossed. That’s why she’d run away two days earlier.

She believes that her mother would be willing to try to improve the situation at home. She can’t imagine that her father would stop drinking and control his aggression, but she would welcome it if he could. With Tina’s permission, her mother is called and the Jugendamt informed. Tina’s mother has been very worried about her. She admits that her husband can’t always control his anger and says that she hopes very much that Tina will come back home again soon. The father can be heard in the background and appears no longer to be quite sober.

All subsequent steps are coordinated the next day with the Jugendamt. Until it is decided how she can be helped, Tina remains in a safe place with people who will protect her.