Why are missing children so important?
We all have a responsibility to safeguard the young and vulnerable. Running away can be symptomatic of wider problems in a child's life, but whatever the reason, one thing is clear: children who decide to run away are unhappy, vulnerable and in danger. More tragically, 'missing' may result in loss of life and may be the first stage of a police murder enquiry.
The Children's Society through its research has identified push and pull factors of causation to go missing:
Push Factors
- Family Conflict
- Parental Separation
- Domestic abuse in the home
- Neglect
- Physical, emotional or sexual abuse
- Parental substance abuse
- Mental Health Concerns
- Issues with their care placement
Pull Factors
- Criminal Exploitation (including county lines)
- Sexual Exploitation
- Negative Peer Relationships
- Anti-Social Behaviour
- Substance Misuse
- Parties/Gatherings
- Visiting Family away from placement
The immediate risks associated with going missing include:
- No means of support or legitimate income – leading to high risk activities
- Involvement in criminal activities
- Victim of abuse (including forced marriage, 'honour' based violence)
- Victim of crime, for example through sexual assault and exploitation
- Alcohol/substance misuse
- Deterioration of physical and mental health
- Missing out on schooling and education
- Increased vulnerability
Longer-term risks include:
- Long-term drug dependency / alcohol dependency
- Crime
- Homelessness
- Disengagement from education
- All forms of child exploitation
- Poor physical and/or mental health
When a child does go missing the aim is to prevent that child suffering harm and to recover the child to safety as soon as possible. We do this through partnership working, information sharing, problem-solving and performance management. Repeatedly running away should be viewed with as much concern as children who run away for the first time.
The information below is designed for child protection professionals and is additional to the above information but is also useful for parents and carers.
Why are missing children so important?
When a child does go missing the aim is to prevent that child suffering harm and to recover the child to safety as soon as possible.
We do this through partnership working, information sharing, problem-solving and performance management.
From the missing incident, if the child is considered to have suffered or be at risk of suffering significant harm, the Tees child safeguarding procedures will be utilised to amend the risk assessment and safeguarding measures in place around that individual.
Repeatedly running away should be viewed with as much concern as children who run away for the first time.
The persistence of this behaviour can suggest that actions following earlier assessments to reduce the likelihood of future episodes should be reviewed and alternatives considered.
Missing children discussed at the Vulnerable, Exploited, Missing, Trafficked (VEMT) Practitioners Group (VPG)
Children with missing episodes which meet the following set criteria, are included in the weekly VPG agenda:
Criteria
- Missing episodes assessed as high risk by Cleveland Police
- Three or more missing episodes in a four- week period
- Three or more missing episodes in ninety days
- Three or more No Apparent Risk missing episodes in ninety days
- Missing episodes for active VEMT children
- Missing episodes over seventy--two hours in duration
- Live missing episodes
Missing episodes and return home interviews are reviewed at the meeting to determine any links to exploitation.
The involved professionals are requested to provide a written update for the meeting and a decision is made to determine if the criteria for VEMT is met.