The NRS links youth and families to crisis counseling, programs and resources, and each other, as appropriate. The goal of the system is to ensure that young people in crisis have a single source of information on the help available to them. Hotline staff and volunteers provide crisis intervention counseling to runaway and homeless youth, young people who are thinking of running away or are in crisis, and their family members. Hotline staff respond to approximately 160,000 calls annually from throughout the United States and its Territories. Message delivery service between youth and their families or guardians that enables estranged parents and children to reestablish communication through a neutral third party.
Parents also can leave a message for their child.
Conference calls among parents, youth, and resource agency staff that are facilitated by hotline staff and volunteers. The REP curriculum guide and video, as well as NRS materials promoting the toll-free telephone number, are routinely sent to agencies, schools, police departments, civic groups, and individuals across the United States to use within their home communities. The demonstration project tested the need for a system that would provide young people with referrals to runaway youth shelters or other appropriate services. This system also would serve as a communications network through which parents could attempt to talk with their children through neutral third parties. Within a year of implementation, the NRS was receiving more than 1,000 calls each month, establishing the need for such a service.