Runaway Children

Question

We are clear that the right care placements for looked after children are vital for their stability, and these decisions should assess the risk of children going missing from placements. The Government’s ‘Missing Children and Adults strategy’ focuses primarily on vulnerable people who go missing within England and Wales, and provides a clear core framework in which we can work with local councils, police and other local partners to deliver collectively, the best protection possible for missing children, adults and their families.

The Department’s 2014 statutory guidance on ‘Children who run away or go missing from home or care’, makes clear the expectations we have on local councils to work with police and other partners to safeguard all vulnerable children. In addition, since 2014, we have placed a duty on local councils to report all incidences of children going missing from care. Children’s homes must have policies to stop children going missing; and when children do go missing, they must respond in line with local police protocols that includes understanding patterns of missing episodes to put preventative steps in place.

Local councils are continuing to improve data collections to include all incidents of children missing from care and so the numbers recorded are increasing as would be expected (although the data is still categorised as experimental). We will continue to assess data quality and what this indicates about managing risk.