Finding Runaway Groups/Partners Online (updated 6/7/18)

BIG FAT DISCLAIMER: Like running away itself, finding a partner or group to run away with/to online should be a MATTER OF LAST RESORT. You are always always always better off finding people IN PERSON for any number of reasons, not the least of which is you can verify their identity immediately. It is also much easier to build a necessary trust/respect dynamic with face-to-face interaction. Please consult u/2717192619192 's post [here] (https://www.reddit.com/r/runaway/comments/8gxak7/finding_partners/) about finding partners and groups for more insight into this.

Hey everyone:

We here at r/Runaway want to foster a community where people are welcomed and listened to in whatever capacity they need. Although a runaway is usually classified by age and circumstance, it is also a subset of the vagabond lifestyle, which we encourage and cultivate here (although r/Vagabond is a lot more active).

One of the biggest hurdles that people have to running away is simply surviving, and a good way to get over this hurdle is to run away as a group. This is what we're going to be talking about here.

If you don't want to read the whole thing, here's the TL;DR : Just because you are running away from a potentially abusive situation does not mean you can ignore your better judgment. There are people out there who might seek to harm you or prey on you, and it is in your best interest to remain vigilant and cautious, especially when finding partners online.

Although we do not have an outright ban on looking for groups in this subreddit (and we never will have such a ban), we do advise people searching for groups to do a few things to keep themselves safe:

1. Engage with potential partners in a community where others are watching. It is very easy to miss red flags and be blinded by emotions if you are in a private one-on-one conversation with someone. Obviously running away is a big deal, and it makes sense to want to keep it under wraps. This is one of the reasons why we created our Discord server. Anybody is welcome to search for and form groups there. In general, having a community of trusted or even neutral people around can help secure a situation and weed out potentially harmful individuals or predators.

2. See their face before meeting them. Using some sort of video chat service (Skype, Discord, Google Hangouts, etc.) is a great way to do this, as you can make a free account fairly easily that is not attached to your identity in any way. Before going off to meet someone, or before they come to pick you up, or anything like that, have a video call with them. Hear their voice, see their face, make sure they are who they say they are. 95% of the time, this will be utterly pointless - the person you're contacting will be telling the truth. But you definitely do not want to be in the 5% who gets kidnapped, injured, exploited, or in the worst case, killed.

3. Just because you are in a group, does not mean that group owns you. Running away is a huge deal on an individual level, and your first priority if you decide to run should be yourself. How are YOU going to eat? How are YOU going to stay safe? Where are YOU going to live/sleep/work/etc.? There is always strength in numbers, but if your group is working against your best interests, you should very seriously consider either going solo or finding a different group of people.

Over the coming days and weeks, we will be working on a system both here and on our Discord server to help runaways who are searching for partners and groups. We should take this opportunity to reiterate that, in general, running away is a really bad idea and should only ever be done as an absolute last resort. Just because you have a group or a partner does NOT mean that running away is any better of an idea, or any more safe. You should think long and hard about the circumstances that led you to your decision.

This guide is going to be permanent and will be updated as we see fit.

-The Moderators