 | Copyright © tri.x | |
See also:
West Yorkshire Joint Protocol for Children Missing from Home or Care
What to do when a child goes missing – A guide for professionals (Calderdale Council)
This chapter was updated in July 2023 to incorporate Ofsted feedback. Information in relation to Philomena Protocols was added into Section 3, When a Child is Missing from Care.
The Children's Home Regulations (Miscellaneous Amendments) (England) Regulations 2013 require that homes must have in place a ‘missing child policy' setting out the steps that the home must take to prevent children from going missing and containing details of staff roles and responsibilities for responding when children are or have been missing.
This ‘Missing Child Policy’ does not replace the West Yorkshire Consortium Joint Protocol for Children Missing from Home or Care. The purpose of this policy is to have clear actions which are specific to the service and home, whereas the West Yorkshire protocol contains generic guidance which informs our ‘Missing Child Policy’.
Child: For the purposes of this document a child is anyone who has not yet reached their 18th birthday. ‘Children’ therefore means ‘children and young people’ throughout the guidance and this chapter.
Missing: Anyone whose whereabouts cannot be established and where the circumstances are out of character or the context suggests the person may be subject of crime or at risk of harm to themselves or another’; and
Away from Placement without Authorisation: A Child Looked After whose whereabouts are known but who is not at their placement or the place they are expected to be and the carer has concerns or the incident has been notified to the local authority or the Police.
Young Runaway: A child who has run away from their home or care placement, or feels they have been forced or lured to leave.
Missing Child: A child reported as missing to the Police by their family or carers.
Missing from Care: A Child Looked After who is not at their placement or the place they are expected to be (e.g. school) and their whereabouts are not known.
Responsible local authority: The local authority that is responsible for a Child’s care and care planning.
Host local authority: The local authority in which a Child Looked After is placed when placed out of the responsible local authority’s area.
On receiving the missing person report the Police will assess the risks to the missing person using a continuum of risk which ranges from ‘no apparent risk (absent)' through to high-risk cases that require immediate, intensive action. (for more information please see the College of Policing.
When making decisions about how to respond to a child or young person who appears to be missing, the welfare of the child should always be the primary consideration. When considering individual cases, professionals in all agencies should where necessary consult and seek advice from each other in order to support the process of shared risk assessment.
Due to the possibility that young people who go missing may be at risk of child sexual exploitation, this guidance should be read in conjunction with the West Yorkshire Consortium Procedures Manual, Safeguarding Children and Young People from Child Sexual Exploitation: Policy, Procedures and Guidance as well as local protocols for child sexual exploitation. The primary consideration is the safety and wellbeing of the young person.
The Children’s Home has a duty of care for the safety and wellbeing of that young person and is expected to take such action that reasonable parents would take to safeguard their children. The Police have a duty to investigate all reports of people who go missing where there is concern for the welfare of that individual or the public.
See also Missing Children / Young People Flowchart which summarises the actions required when a child is missing and assessed as high risk, medium risk, low risk or no apparent risk (absent).
When Children’s Social Care are notified that a child is missing, the information should be assessed to determine the level of risk to the child.
Or where professionals agree that there are concerns for a child’s welfare or safety if they are not located, the following persons/agencies must be notified:
This reporting will be in line with the local Philomena protocols. Every child or young person who lives at the Home will have their own Philomena profile, which can be found on each child or young person’s file.
Any child missing from home for more than 24 hours should be reported to the Service Manager, who should consider notifying the Head of Service.
If the child is not traced within 72 hours, a Strategy Meeting chaired by a team manager or service manager should be convened to consider:
If the child is still missing after 20 working days, a Looked After Review must be convened to consider additional action. (see Children Looked After Reviews and Disruption Meetings)
Where a child goes missing from care and there is concern for their welfare, or at the request of a child who has been missing, staff should arrange a meeting between the child and the social worker in private to consider the reasons for the child going missing. The home or carer should also consider, with the social worker what action should be taken to prevent the child going missing in future. Any concerns arising about the placement should be addressed, as far as possible, in conjunction with the social worker.
Where a child returns, an interview with an independent professional must be arranged through Calderdale Missing Person's Team. The Independent Return Interview offers the child an opportunity to discuss any concerns away from the carers.
If the child is in foster care, the carer must work with the local authority (i.e. the child’s social worker) to create a strategy to keep the child safe in future.
Parents will need to be informed, and involved if this is appropriate.
The purpose of the return interview is to:
In line with National Guidance, there is no requirement for the Police to record Away from Placement without Authorisation; also National Guidance to local Authorities reiterated that Unauthorised Absence cases should not be reported to the Police. The Children's Home must keep accurate records of the number of times a young person goes missing, the length of time they are missing, whether they return of their own accord or are found, and the locations that they are found at, or stay at, whilst missing. The risk assessment must also be updated in line with the number of times a young person goes missing and the circumstances.
Young people must be given a certain level of freedom to interact with their environment if they are to develop and have an enjoyable, meaningful life. Carers do not supervise young people 24 hours a day every day of the week. As they grow up, there will be many times when carers are happy for the young person to be unsupervised even when their exact whereabouts are unknown. It is also normal behaviour for young people to sometimes go missing/ without permission and sometimes fails to return home on time. Although every young person who goes missing will be exposed to some level of risk, the level of risk they will be exposed to whilst missing will vary significantly. Missing behaviour will not always give rise to immediate concern as most young people are able to safely interact with their environment for short periods of time however factors such as age, level of understanding, health, disability, history of risk taking behaviour etc. should be considered.
When a child or young person appears to have gone missing, the Children's Home should take all reasonable and practical steps in order to identify whether the child is away from the placement without authorisation or missing as follows:Unless there is an obvious immediate serious risk to the young person or the public, reasonable and practical steps that the residential worker should take before contacting the Police include:
See also: Missing Risk Management Plan.
The child’s social worker has responsibility for ensuring an "Initial Assessment of Risk" is completed when a young person is placed in a care placement. This should include an assessment of the level of risk of the geographical area in which the young person is to be placed, particularly where the placement is outside of the local area. It is recognised that in emergency or unplanned placements, that the placement plan, including the initial assessment of risk, is unlikely to have been completed within the first 72 hours. However, all available information should be given at the time of placement. If there are grounds to suspect that the young person is likely to go missing from their new placement, a preventative strategy discussion or meeting should be held to reduce the risks. This should involve the Police and also relevant partner agencies. These initial risk assessments should be reviewed as part of childcare reviewing processes and following any episode of missing
When a child looked after who has been missing has been located, the Social Worker and line manager should decide in consultation with the Independent Reviewing Officer, carers and the young person whether they should convene an early statutory review of the young person’s care plan.
The statutory review will provide an opportunity to check that the care plan has been appropriately amended to address the reasons why the young person went missing and includes a strategy to prevent reoccurrences.
The Police and other relevant agencies should be given an opportunity to contribute to the review, in particular to indicate whether they have any concerns about the quality of care provided to the young person and whether this could have influenced the young person's decision to run away.
If a carer or professional considers that a looked after young person is a persistent unauthorised absentee, they should contact the Police Divisional Missing Person Co-coordinator. The children's social care lead person for missing children should also be informed for a discussion about further action. The child’s Independent Reviewing Officer must also be kept informed and invited to any strategy meeting arranged.
Each young Person living at the home should have a completed Appendix 1: Missing from Care Incident Form. On admission the manager of the home will complete the ‘Safeguarding Police Admission Notification form’ (see Appendix 2: Young Person Safeguarding Police Admission Notification Form), the purpose of this is to ensure that from the first day a young person is admitted to the home relevant sharing of information occurs with the safeguarding Police team so joint working can be put in place and regularly reviewed whilst a young person resides at the children’s home. If there are any increased concerns are missing/safeguarding the Police are fully informed of the relevant details. Each month the manager of the home must ensure that the Police have an up to date ‘Missing from Care Incident Form (see Appendix 1: Missing from Care Incident Form).
The missing child policy will be reviewed annually and shared with the ‘CSE Missing from Homes Coordinator’ from the Safeguarding Police team to highlight any amendments that have been made.
Appendix 1: Missing from Care Incident Form
Appendix 2: Young Person Safeguarding Police Admission Notification Form
| | Copyright © tri.x | |
