Missing Children

The Home ensures that:

• All staff are fully aware of and know how to implement this Missing procedure, and know that this procedure must be implemented alongside the statutory guidance for children who are missing, the relevant local Runaway and Missing from Home and Care Protocol from the local Safeguarding Children Partnership and the responsible authority’s policy in relation to children going missing. All staff are made aware of the care and support they should provide to children in their care to help to reduce missing episodes, and of the steps they should take if children in their care do go missing. Staff will look for children when they are missing;
• The care and support provided to children minimises the risk that they will go missing and reduces the risk of harm should the child go missing. Children are helped to understand the dangers and risks of leaving the Home without permission and are made aware of where they can access help if they consider running away;
• Children who do go missing from the Home are protected as far as possible and responded to positively on their return;
• Children who go missing experience well-coordinated responses that reduce the harm or risk of harm to them. Risks are well understood and minimised. There is a clear plan of urgent action in place to protect them and to reduce further harm or risk of harm;
• Staff are proactive in helping and protecting children, and they revise their ways of working if their approach is not working;
• Staff are aware of, and do not exceed, the measures they can take to prevent a child leaving without permission under current legislation and Government guidance. This Missing procedure is updated accordingly as that legislation and Government guidance changes. This procedure provides links to the relevant Statutory Guidance for ease of access for staff;
• The Home and staff take appropriate action to find children who are missing, including working alongside the police where appropriate, and to protect children who are absent from the Home without consent, but whose whereabouts are known;
• If a child is absent from the Home and their whereabouts are not known (i.e. the child is missing), staff will act in accordance with this Missing procedure and with the local Runaway and Missing from Home and Care (RMFHC) protocols and procedures applicable to the area where the Home is located;
• Where children placed out of authority go missing, the Home follows the local RMFHC protocol, and complies with, and makes staff aware of, any other processes required by the responsible authority, specified in the individual child’s care plan and in the RMFHC protocol covering the authority responsible for the child’s care; 
• Where a child goes missing and there is concern for their welfare, or at the request of a child who has been missing, the Home arranges a meeting in private between the child and the responsible authority to consider the reasons for their going missing. The Home considers with the responsible authority and staff what action should be taken to prevent the child going missing in future. Any concerns arising about staff or the placement are addressed, as far as is possible, in conjunction with the responsible authority;
• The Home will liaise with and challenge the responsible local authority as appropriate (for example when an independent return home interview is not offered or arranged by the local authority) and will take appropriate steps to escalate concerns;
• Parents and carers are made aware of incidents where the child has been or is missing, where this is appropriate and relevant to the plans for that child’s future care.

There are various different terms which are used in relation to missing children:

Statutory Guidance on Children Who Run Away or Go Missing From Home or Care (January 2014) uses the following definitions:

• Missing Child:
  A child reported as missing to the police by their family or carers;
  
  
• Missing from Care:
  A looked after child who is not at their placement or the place they are expected to be (e.g. school) and their whereabouts are not known;
  
  
• Away from Placement Without Authorisation:
  A looked after child 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.

The police, as the lead agency for investigating and finding missing children, will respond to children and young people going Missing or being Absent based on on-going risk assessments in line with current guidance and the College of Policing definition of missing and absent. The police will prioritise all incidents of missing children as medium or high risk.

The police definitions of 'Missing' and 'Absent' are:

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

Absent

A person is not at a place where they are expected or required to be (and there is no apparent risk)'.

The police classification of a person as 'Missing' or 'Absent' will be based on on-going risk assessment. A child whose whereabouts are known would not be treated as either 'Missing' or 'Absent' under the police definitions.

It is important to note that carers or others reporting a child missing to the police should not make the judgement themselves as to whether a child is missing or absent – this decision will be made by the police on the basis of the information provided. A child who is Absent may be at risk for example of child sexual or criminal exploitation, involvement in drugs, gangs, criminal activity, trafficking, forced marriage, female genital mutilation or radicalisation, and Police Risk Assessments should take account of those situations and may need to change the category to Missing.

Where a child is recorded by police as being Absent, the details will be recorded by the police, who will also agree review times and any on-going actions with the Home or other person reporting the absence. All persons recorded by police as Absent are monitored on the police system. Monitoring is ongoing and subject to regular reviews to ensure risk levels do not change. Where information comes to light which introduces any risk to that person, then the case may be re-categorised as 'Missing' and a police investigation started.

One of the overriding principles of 'Absent' is that police are able to focus resources more effectively, in accordance with the police risk assessments of 'Absent' and 'Missing' incidents. A child who is Absent may still be at risk for example of child sexual or criminal exploitation, involvement in drugs, gangs, criminal activity, trafficking, forced marriage, female genital mutilation or radicalisation, and the police risk assessment should reflect this.

The police will prioritise all incidents of Missing children as medium or high risk.

A Missing child incident would be prioritised as 'high risk' where:

• The risk posed is immediate and there are substantial grounds for believing that the child is in danger through their own vulnerability; or
• The child may have been the victim of a serious crime; or
• The risk posed is immediate and there are substantial grounds for believing that the public is in danger.

The high risk category requires the immediate deployment of police resources. Police guidance makes clear that a member of the senior management team or similar command level must be involved in the examination of initial enquiry lines and approval of appropriate staffing levels. Such cases should lead to the appointment of an Investigating Officer and possibly a Senior Investigating Officer and a Police Search Advisor. There should be a media strategy and / or close contact with outside agencies. Family support should be put in place. The UK Missing Persons Bureau should be notified of the case immediately and local authority children's services should also be notified.

A Missing child incident would be prioritised as 'medium risk' where the risk posed is likely to place the subject in danger or they are a threat to themselves or others. This category requires an active and measured response by police and other agencies in order to trace the missing person and support the person reporting. This will involve a proactive investigation and search in accordance with the circumstances to locate the missing child as soon as possible.

Section 17 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 provides police with powers to enter and search a premises in certain circumstances, notably, with regard to this guidance, for the purposes of saving life and limb or to arrest without warrant a person who has committed an indictable offence or certain other listed offences under the section.

The police can use the powers under Section 46(1) of the Children Act 1989 to remove a child into police protection, for up to 72 hours, if they are likely to suffer significant harm.

Early and effective sharing of information between professionals and local agencies is essential for the identification of patterns of risky behaviour. This may be used to identify areas of concern for an individual child, or to identify 'hotspots' of activity in a local area.

All children must have a Placement Plan which takes account of any likely risk of the child going missing. The Placement Plan should incorporate measures to reduce or prevent the child becoming absent, and information that would help facilitate the location of the child should they go missing. As part of the referral, placement and ongoing planning process, consideration must be given to the risk of the child becoming missing. If there is a risk, a plan must be drawn up to reduce or prevent it. See also Section 5, Specific Risks. If there is a risk that a child may run away or go missing, staff should do their best to help them understand the risks and dangers involved and make them aware of how to seek help if they do run away. The Care Plan and the Placement Plan should include details of the arrangements that will need to be in place to keep the child safe and minimise the risk of the child going missing from the Home.

• The Care Plan – should include strategies to avoid unauthorised absences and/or a child going missing. It should also include strategies to reduce the duration and risks associated if the child does have unauthorised absences/go missing;
• The Placement Plan – should include strategies for preventing the child from taking unauthorised absences/going missing;
• A pre-incident risk assessment should be completed for all children for whom there is concern that they may run away. Distance from home, family and friends should be considered as a risk factor. The risk assessment should be updated after any missing incident and should be regularly reviewed. The risk assessment should detail possible places or persons associated with episodes of going missing and should be referred to whenever a child goes missing or runs away;
• The child should be provided with advice about access to an independent Advocate and the child's views taken into account;
• Statutory reviews should consider any absences and revise strategies to prevent repeat absences and/or missing incidents and the Care Plan should be revised accordingly.

Where a child already has an established pattern of running away, the Care Plan should include a strategy to keep the child safe and minimising the likelihood of the child running away in the future. This should be discussed and agreed as far as possible with the child and with the Home.

Where a child runs away persistently or engages in other risky behaviours, such as frequently being absent from the Home to meet with inappropriate adults, the registered person, in consultation with the child’s placing authority, should convene a risk management meeting to develop a strategy for managing risks to the young person. The strategy should be agreed with the child’s placing authority, the local authority where the Home is located and the local police.

Where the registered person considers that a child is at serious risk of harm as a result of being persistently missing from the Home, they must contact the local authority to request a review of the child’s Care Plan. Local authorities must give serious consideration to such requests. Where a review does not take place, the Registered Person must escalate this concern under Regulation 5 (engaging with the wider system to ensure children’s needs are met).

When a child is placed out of their local authority area, the responsible authority must make sure that the child has access to the services they need in advance of placement. Notification of the placement must be made to the host authority and other specified services. All children subject of a pre-incident risk assessment should be notified to the local police service. A notification process for missing/absent episodes should be agreed between responsible and host local authorities as a part of the Care Plan and the Placement Plan.

Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs) should be informed by the responsible local authority about missing/ absent episodes and they should address these in statutory reviews. The pre incident risk assessment should be updated after missing incident and should be regularly reviewed.

Where there are Child Protection concerns relating to a child and/or where the child has gone missing from the placement or from any previous placement, the Placement Plan must include information agreed between the placing authority and the Home about the day-to-day arrangements put in place to keep the child safe.

The Home will be proactive in providing an environment which promotes a feeling of security that aims to minimise the likelihood of the child going missing. Staff will work with children to educate them about the risks of going missing, help them where possible to identify trigger points and give them other alternatives in these particular circumstances. The competence and support needs of staff in responding to missing from care issues should be considered as part of their regular appraisal and supervision.

Staff should know when to try to prevent a child or young person leaving the Home and should do so through dialogue, but they should not try to restrain the child should they be intent on leaving, or in any other circumstances, unless it is necessary to prevent injury to the child or others, or serious damage to property.

On a day to day basis, staff should be alert to signs or indications that a child may be likely to run away or become missing. If staff suspect that this may happen, they should take any actions already agreed with the child's social worker, or do what they reasonably and safely can to reduce or prevent the child from leaving - this includes circumstances where a child is refusing to return to the Home.

If there is a serious risk e.g. the child is behaving in a violent manner or threatening to damage property, the Home should contact the police.

The planning process for each child, including the likelihood of them becoming missing, must take account of any specific risk factors for each child. These risk factors include, but are not limited to, the following:

The Manager will arrange to log information on Missing episodes for monitoring purposes. A copy of the report will be retained on the child's file and a copy forwarded to the child's social worker. A copy of the report will also be sent to the Regulatory Authority if applicable (see Notifications of Significant Events Procedure).

The Home will keep records of absence and notify the placing authority. The record will include:

• Action by the Home;
• Circumstances of the child's return;
• Any reasons given by the child for the absence;
• Any action taken in light of those reasons.

These records will be shared with the placing authority (child's social worker) and where it is appropriate, the parents.

Statutory Guidance on Children who Run Away or Go Missing from Home or Care (DfE, January 2014)

College of Policing Guidance on Missing Persons