Bradford is leading the way in providing family support services to tackle the problem of runaway children, according to a Council chief.

A report published today by the Children's Society is calling for more family support services to counter breakdowns in family relationships which are the main cause of children going missing from their homes.

The report, called Home Run, says that 940 children under 16 run away in Bradford each year.

But Peter Scholey, direct services manager at Bradford Social Services, said the department was already providing a range of innovative family support services in conjunction with the Barnardos charity and the police.

Barnardos' missing person project, MISPER, which is jointly run with the police, is funded by the Government and looks after children who go missing from home in the city.

Bradford Social Services provides support systems to keep families together by helping them to sit down and talk through their problems before they get to crisis stage.

It offers a family group conference, a quick response service and a Reach Out scheme, to help families with runaway children.

Mr Scholey said: "We started to be innovative because four years ago a lot of children over 11 were going into care and we looked at what the Council could do to stop that and support them at home.

"We are ahead of other places because we started tackling this directly years ago."

Director of Social Services Liam Hughes said: "Bradford has two main schemes providing support, the first is the community support workers and the second is the Reach Out scheme which the Council runs with Reed Care. It offers detailed support very quickly for situations in families where there is a risk of a child coming into care.

"It has been running for two years and we think it has been very successful at getting into situations where families need a bit of help."

The Children's Society conducted today's report as part of its Street Solutions campaign to identify the needs of children who run away or are at risk of running away.

Barnardos' assistant director of children's services, Toni Johnston said: "The MISPER scheme was set up in 1997 in Bradford and it was so successful that we set up a similar one in Kirklees.

"There are only three schemes like this in Yorkshire and 12 in the whole country. We have dealt with several hundred children who have gone missing in Bradford and the service we have provided has been invaluable.

"When they return the Council and ourselves provide support for the children and in this respect Bradford Council is ahead of its time in terms of the support it provides. We have reduced the number of young people who go missing on a regular basis."