We just don’t know the reason so can never be sure what’s actually better. So maybe not. Maybe something bad happened as a one off, maybe it was school bullying & nothing to do with the parents.

As I suggested, some police depts. will handle it better than others, so there’s a risk that it’s not the best option. But that doesn’t mean it’ll always be the worse one.

So would it be better to just leave them alone to become permanently homeless? Depending on the country, even the state or charity orphanage may not be better than going home. There’s a tiine of variables we don’t know.

How to you propose someone ‘directly’ helps btw? Adopt them on the spot?! Ask them what they want? (This won’t necessarily be the best thing for them). Also bear in mind that the op had said they’d just taken mushrooms… A scared homeless kid having two drugged up strangers talking to them, that’s not going to be bad at all is it?!

Anyhow, it’s all wild speculation. All anyone can do is make as best a decision for the moment.