To the Editor:

Re “When a Foster Child Runs Away, the City’s Solution Is Often Arrest” (news article, Dec. 7):

Aside from the fact that leaving a foster home is not a crime, the use of warrants and arrests actively undermines the work of foster care providers. When youths leave their foster homes, they are often running to a place that is familiar and comfortable as they try to cope with the trauma and instability inherent to placement in foster care.

Issuing a warrant for this noncriminal behavior contributes to the systemic criminalization of young people of color, and says to this vulnerable population that whether or not you commit a crime, you can still be arrested and sit in jail. There are other options.

Missing persons reports, which are already filed every time a child leaves foster care, trigger a specialized team within the New York Police Department to conduct an immediate search for the youth; but warrants supersede missing persons reports, and transform the case from protective to punitive.

Youths in foster care need and deserve a system that responds with treatment and hope, not criminalization and incarceration.