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Are you a professional concerned a child is missing?

Are you a professional concerned a child is missing?

If you are a professional, come in to contact with children as part of your work, or as a volunteer, you have a statutory duty and a professional responsibility to report a missing child or young person and to ensure there is no undue delay which may place the child or young person at risk.

A child or young person under the age of 18 years is considered ‘missing’ if:

• missing from home or run away with cause for concern
• missing from care
• missing families including children on the Child Protection Plan

All such missing children or young people will be considered to be a child at risk under Section 47 of the Children Act (1989). This section of the Act gives the power to all appropriate agencies to disclose relevant information to provide a positive outcome for the child or young person/s.

What should you do?

If it comes to your attention that a young person is missing from home you must advise the parent/ carer of their duty to report the child missing to the police and of your organisation’s duty to ensure the matter is reported to the police. 

You should then check ContactPoint to establish if the child is known to any other agency andfollow this up by contacting the police to verify that the the parent/ carer has reported the child missing.

You may need to complete an assessment using the common assessment framework (CAF). 

All agencies should consider the risk factors outlined in the Merseyside Missing from Home or Care Protocol.

What is unauthorised absence?

Unauthorised absence is when a child or young person has deliberately gone missing and:

• Their behaviour is not out of character
• They are either expected to return or be found quickly, or are temporarily staying with a relative, friend or associate
• They are not expected to suffer or cause significant harm to others whilst absent

This does not mean you do not have a professional responsibility to record and investigate a missing child when there are genuine concerns for their welfare or they are at imminent risk.

Testing boundaries

Some children and young people intentionally go missing from home or care for a short period of time and often their whereabouts are known.  These children and young people are ‘testing boundaries’ and not considered at risk.  Sometimes children stay out longer than agreed either intentionally or unwittingly.  This kind of boundary testing activity is well within the range of normal teenage behaviour and is not considered ‘missing’.