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Contents

1. Introduction and Scope
2. Departmental Policy
3. Terms of Reference and Joint Protocol between Social Care, Education and Police - Missing from Care and Home Working Group
4. Categories of Absence
5. Planning before the Event; Individual Risk Assessments
6. Information Packs
7. How to Respond when a Child may be Missing from Care
8. Additional Guidance
9. Notifications of Absences
10. Notifications to OFSTED
11. Role of the Police
12. Joint Responsibility
13. Longer Absences: Convening a Strategy Meeting
14. Use of Recovery Orders
15. Action to be Taken During a Period of Absence
16. Independent Interview
17. Publicity
18. Recording
19. Police Return Interview

1. Introduction and Scope

This procedure covers situations when children who are looked after by the local authority go missing from wherever they are placed. For the purpose of this procedure a child is defined as any person under 18 years old.

Every missing episode should attract proper attention from the professionals involved with the missing child. They must work together to ensure a consistent and coherent response is given to the missing child on their return.

This procedure should be read as guidance, which cannot anticipate every situation that may arise. Police, Children's Services staff, foster carers and residential social workers should use their professional judgement to take any action they feel is necessary to protect the safety of the child, based on an assessment of risk for each individual child. The safety of the child is paramount.

2. Departmental Policy

Ealing recognises that, as a corporate parent to looked after children, we have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of each looked after child. We will pursue all the courses of action that would be expected of any good parent of children who may be missing or abducted, to ensure their safe return home.

We acknowledge the particular vulnerability of looked after children, who can be at great risk even during short absences. We will seek to anticipate and prevent any predictable absences, and we will consistently show care and concern for young people on their return.

3. Terms of Reference and Joint Protocol between Social Care, Education and Police - Missing from Care and Home Working Group

Membership

Attendee	Position
Carol Yates	Lac and Leaving Care Operations Manager  - Lead - Missing from Care - Chair
Hilary Abbey	Children in Need and Referral and Assessment  Operations Manager - lead - Missing from Home
Derek Edwards	Ealing Police Missing Persons Unit or Representative
Penny McDonagh	Missing from Education
The following may also be invited when felt appropriate to case or theme discussion:
Alastair Romanes	Service Head YOS
Jill Somersham	EDT Manager

Frequency of meetings

The team will meet a minimum 6 times a year. Any member of the team can request additional meetings.

Meeting administration, including minutes

Meetings will be arranged by Social Care including room bookings (PA to Operations Manger LAC and LCT)

Minutes will be taken by Social Care and distributed to all parties.

2 weeks before each meeting, participants will be asked to contribute to the agenda and to highlight any individual cases they wish to discuss. This will be distributed 1 week before the meeting so that all agencies can bring relevant information with them.

Aims

• To review the joint working and strategic approaches of Education, Social Care and the Police in relation to children who are missing from home or care or who are at risk of going missing.
• To promote within each of the respective organisations the missing from care and home, or at risk of being from missing from care and home agenda.
• To update their respective agencies on any changes to policies and procedures.
• To highlight and discuss each agency's actions and joint plans on individual cases brought to the meeting by each agency.
• To share information in relation to this client group that would minimize safeguarding risks to individual children.
• To consider any themes or service gaps in relation to children being missing and to improve standards and multi agency joint working.
• To coordinate the collection data on missing children and to review the data so trends can be analysed.
• To provide the ECSB and the Corporate Parent Committee with an annual report each year on children missing from home and care.
• To ensure case discussion takes place on individual cases where necessary and that should there be any dispute regarding organizational practice, that this group resolves or escalates to the respective line managers in the organizations where this is not possible. 

4. Categories of Absence

There is no authoritative legal definition of what constitutes a child "missing from care" It is a generic term, including various categories and descriptions, as follows:

4.1 Unauthorised Absence

This describes a situation where a child has left or failed to return to a placement without authority or agreement but the location of the child is known. The casual reporting of 'unauthorised absences' to the police as missing persons should not occur.  Following a risk assessment, a child may remain categorised as an unauthorised absence or may fall into one of the following categories.

4.2 Missing Person

A missing person is anyone whose whereabouts are unknown whatever the circumstances of their disappearance. They will be considered missing until located and their well-being or otherwise is established.

4.3 Absconded

An absconder is a child who is missing and is also looked after as a result of a court Order. (Any absconder, as defined, may be arrested by the police without warrant).

4.4 Abducted

This classification applies only to children looked after as a result of a Care Order, Emergency Protection Order or in Police Protection. Section 40, Children Act, 1989, defines an abducted child as a child who is:

1. Taken away from the responsible person; or
2. Kept away from the responsible person; or
3. Induced or assisted to run away from the responsible person.

5. Planning before the Event; Individual Risk Assessments

Individual risk assessments enable staff and carers to be clear what the risks are for a particular child and/or the risks they pose for the public. A risk assessment will help staff to decide whether/when a child should be reported if they are missing and to share full and accurate information with the police and other agencies.

Where there is a likelihood that a child in care may go missing from their established placement, their placement plan, completed by their social worker should include an assessment of the likelihood that the child might go missing and the risk they may face as a consequence. Children's home staff and foster carers should contribute to this assessment. All information should be included in the placement plan and in the child's care plan. This assessment of likelihood to run away should include information on the following:

• Likelihood of child going missing;
• Child's view on current placement;
• Level of supervision/support that care staff propose to provide for the child;
• Views of parents/carers on their child's needs and the action that needs to be taken if the child is absent;
• Risk of harm to the child and their vulnerability if they run away
• Any risk to the public
• Consideration of any external influences which may result in a child's removal without consent;
• Likelihood of the child being harboured

The risk assessment should be renewed and updated regularly - at least at intervals that coincide with the LAC review or review child protection conference and whenever a child's circumstances change. It should be discussed at the placement agreement meeting, clearly recorded and included in the placement and care plans.

Details of those that it is permissible to stay with overnight and in what circumstances. Clarity is needed here as to whether and under what circumstances children are permitted to stay with a parent or parents.

It should be explained to the child the potential dangers that they may encounter should they run away. They need to understand the implications of any action they may subsequently take.

6. Information Packs

When a child arrives at a care home or foster placement, an information pack should be prepared in the event that the child goes missing. This pack should ideally include the following:

• Personal details of child (including description);
• Family addresses and history;
• Known associates and addresses frequented;
• Photo of child;
• Mobile phone number of child;
• Behaviour details;
• Useful information, i.e. medical, physiological;
• Details of previous missing episodes if known and where found. 

The police will also need to know what the child was wearing when they went missing.

Social workers should complete this pack where children are placed in foster care.  Residential social workers should prepare this pack when children are placed within one of the residential homes. These packs should be updated on a regular basis and a copy handed to police when the child is reported missing.

The benefits of these packs are that if updated regularly they can be literally 'grabbed' by any member of staff at the home at any time night or day. This will enable police to fully briefed immediately and thereby assist the investigation.

7. How to Respond when a Child may be Missing from Care

7.1 Initial Enquiries 

It is expected that foster carers and residential social workers make enquiries that a reasonable parent would do prior to active police involvement. These enquiries could include phone calls, visits to addresses where the child is likely to be etc.

The person who becomes aware of an unauthorised absence- that is, a situation where a child has left home without authorisation or agreement, or who has failed to return, should discuss this with either:

• A line manager
• A residential worker colleague
• The field social worker
• The fostering link worker
• The EDT social worker if out of hours

That discussion constitutes the initial risk assessment, which will determine how to proceed.  As part of the assessment of risk, staff must agree the category of absence. 

7.2 The risk assessment

This assessment should consider: 

• Initial risk assessment
• Age of the child
• Time of day/night
• State of mind at the time of absence
• Poses risk to himself or others
• Requires Medication
• On Child Protection Register
• Possible suicide/self harm/mental health problems
• Possible drug/alcohol abuse
• Vulnerable to sexual exploitation
• Any physical/learning difficulties
• May be abducted or subject to a forced marriage
• Victim of crime
• Suffering bullying or abuse
• History of running away to unsafe situations
• Running from a living situation they don't like
• Lack reasonable awareness of the risks associated with running away
• May be involved in offending behaviours
• Have run before and not returned of their own accord
• Has new friends/associates who may pose a risk
• No access to money
• May be exposed to extreme weather conditions
• Timescales for contacting the police if the young person goes missing

8. Additional Guidance

Any child of 12 years or younger whose whereabouts are unknown will automatically be considered as a high risk and classed as missing.  They must be reported to the police immediately.

Any child who is subject to a Child Protection Plan  is classed as a high risk and must be reported to the police immediately.

If a child is abducted from care they are high risk and should be reported to the police immediately.

If a young person is on a curfew and goes missing beyond the curfew onset, they should be reported to the police immediately.

If a child is in care and on unauthorised absence, they should be reported to the police within timescales agreed in their risk assessment.

Where in the first instance it is decided to proceed on the basis of unauthorised absence, this must be kept under continuous review. Staff and/or carers may be able to take steps to locate the child, or to obtain further information about his/her possible whereabouts.

Where a child remains missing or absent for two hours, other than during the night, the residential staff or foster-carer should make arrangements to inform other children in placement. This may serve to avoid unhelpful rumours and may bring to light new information, which could be of assistance. 

Any absence which causes particular concern or suspicion should be reported to the appropriate Operations Manager, Fieldwork and the  Deputy Director. It is the responsibility of the fieldwork service to make this notification within 24 hours of the child being reported missing or within 24 hours of receiving an EDT report to that effect. 

The Operations Manager, Fieldwork, will consider whether it is necessary to alert the Director of Children and Families of any such notification.

The Director of Children and Families will be notified of all absences of more than 48 hours.

9. Notifications of Absences

Following the discussion the child will be classified in one of the following categories:

• Unauthorised absence
• Missing
• Absconded
• Abducted

All situations where a child is missing, absconded or abducted should be reported immediately to the police by the person who discovered the absence.

They should also be reported to any of the following who have not been involved in the initial discussion:

• Parent or persons with parental responsibility
• Social worker
• Link worker
• EDT social worker (where out of office hours) and the social worker/accountable team manager the next working day.

The decision to report should be recorded by the senior member of staff involved in the initial discussion. This responsibility should not be left with foster-carers.

The police will require the following information and assistance and can be given a copy of the information pack:

• Name, date of birth and legal status
• A description of the child
• When the child was last seen, where and with whom
• Family addresses
• Known friends and acquaintances
• Any previous history of absence
• Contact details for the child's GP and dentist
• Any issues which might mean the child is at increased risk
• Any relevant criminal court matters (e.g. outstanding court appearances).

10. Notifications to OFSTED

The residential child care worker who reported the young person missing to the police should notify OFSTED within 24 hours that the child is missing on the Regulation 30 Events Notification Form.

11. Role of the Police

The officer or member of police staff to whom the case is reported will record the relevant information and:

• Conduct a risk assessment and grade the investigation as High, Medium or Low;   
• Inform a supervisor (the investigation will be reviewed by a senior officer depending on the risk assessment grading);
• Initiate the investigation and circulate the child's details via the Police National Computer (PNC)

11.1 Investigation

Police will investigate all cases falling within this protocol and will respond in accordance with current Metropolitan Police Missing Persons policy.

The police supervisor reviewing the investigation will assign an investigating officer. This may be the officer who has initially dealt with the case or indeed another officer. The Police will inform Children's Social Care Services, Residential Care Home or Foster Carer of the investigating officers' details.

All missing children's investigations although investigated by Borough Operational Command Unit (BOCU) officers are the subject of a notification to the Police Child Abuse Investigation Team (CAIT) who will be in a position to also share information with Children's Social Care Services.

12. Joint Responsibility

Police are the lead agency for the investigation of missing children however Children's Social Care Services staff will be expected to assist the police in locating the child and to work co-operatively with police during the investigation.

13. Longer Absences: Convening a Strategy Meeting

Where a child is missing for 7 working days the child's social worker will convene a strategy meeting and Child Protection procedures should be followed.

Any case of a young person missing for 4 weeks or more will be reviewed by the Operations Manager for Looked after Children and Leaving Care Services.

Where the child remains absent, the case should remain "open" on the Children's Services Client Information System (FWI) and be reviewed at six monthly intervals by the Operations Manager.

14. Use of Recovery Orders

Recovery Orders are available in respect of children who are on Care Orders, Emergency Protection Orders or in Police Protection.

Court may make a Recovery Order where it appears that a child:

• Has been unlawfully taken or kept away from the responsible person; or
• Has run away from the responsible person; or
• Is missing

The order:

• Requires any person who can do so to produce the child to the responsible person
• Requires any person who can do so to provide information as to the child's whereabouts
• Authorises the police to force entry to search for the child

Failure to comply with a recovery order is a serious offence which could result in imprisonment.

The use of a recovery order should always be considered where legally applicable.   A decision to apply for a recovery order should only be made following discussion between social worker, team manager and legal services who will provide advice and guidance to social workers if the decision is made to apply for an order.

15. Action to be Taken During a Period of Absence

At the same time that a young person is reported missing, planning needs to start for his return to care. This planning will need to cover.

• Whether s/he will return to the current placement or whether a contingency arrangement is needed
• How might the young person be transported to their placement
• Whether the police may need to interview the young person before return to placement
• Who will be an appropriate independent person to talk to the young person after returning
• Any particular consequences of the child's age, legal status or other circumstances that may affect planning for his return

The social worker should visit the child within 48 hours of his return to care. The social worker is then responsible for ensuring that arrangements are made for the absence to be discussed with the child.

In cases which do not proceed past unauthorised absence, this discussion may be undertaken within the placement by the carer or residential worker.

In all cases where police have been notified, arrangements must involve someone outside the placement. In the first instance this would normally be the social worker himself.

The discussion with the young person must cover any risks to the young person's health arising out of the absence, and an offer to arrange medical attention must be made.

The social worker is responsible for ensuring that all necessary notifications are made that the child has returned to care.

16. Independent Interview

The child in all cases will be offered the opportunity to talk to someone independent of their placement about their absence. This independent person should have no line management involvement with the Residential Home. It is the responsibility of the accountable manager in Children's Social Care Services to arrange this independent interview. If there are concerns that the child ran away as a result of circumstances relating to their placement then this interview would need to take place prior to the child's return. Otherwise this interview should take place within 72 hours of their return.

17. Publicity

It will sometimes be useful to involve the media to try to find a missing young person. This will be done by the police, following consultation with the Operation Manager for Looked after Children and Care Leavers and with Ealing Council's press office. In these circumstances it will also be necessary to involve parents or any person with parental responsibility. 

The police also have responsibility for advising the media with regards to children missing from local authority care, however decisions to publicise the child's disappearance will always be made in consultation with Children's Social Care Services who will in turn consult the child's parents or those with parental responsibility.

18. Recording

It should be borne in mind that a missing person's enquiry may well turn out to be a criminal investigation and in extreme cases a murder investigation. It is therefore vital that throughout the process in this protocol, social workers, residential care workers and foster carers keep a full record of all actions taken and messages received/taken. Police will likewise keep a record of their actions on the Missing Persons Investigation IT system (Merlin). 

19. Police Return Interview

A Police Officer or member of Police Staff must attempt to speak to the child when they return. The Police will if possible ascertain the following:

• Confirm child's identity
• Why did they go missing?
• Where did they go?
• What did they do whilst missing?
• Who did stay with/spend time with/ (if applicable)
• Is there anything else the child would like to tell Police?
• Is there anyone else that they would like to speak to?

Police will make a record of the interview, which they can share with Children's Social Care Services as appropriate.

End