Leanne is 13 and has lived with her grandmother from an early age.

She is sexually-active with multiple partners who are often much older than her. She goes to school occasionally and when she attends, is very disruptive.

Leanne was a repeat runaway, continually being reported missing from home every week. Her grandmother was on the verge of placing Leanne in foster care, as she was also looking after two younger children and couldn't cope with Leanne's behaviour. The Young People’s Worker arranged sessions with Leanne through school. The threat of being put into care encouraged Leanne to engage with the project. Leanne's Grandmother also came to the Centre and received support.

Leanne was deeply affected by the absence of her mother who was drug addict. Even though her grandmother cared for her, she still felt rejected by her Mum and her low self-esteem resulted in her offering sex as a way of gaining affection.

As Leanne said, "It was a way of getting people to like me".

Leanne was re-integrated into school and a learning mentor was identified to support her. Leanne was allowed supervised contact with her Mum which helped to ease the tension with her Grandmother. Over time, Leanne stopped running away from home.

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