For children missing from care, see Joint Protocol between the Police and Children’s Services which is contained in the Walsall Children’s Services Procedures Manual.
Local agencies and professionals, working with children and families where there are outstanding concerns of actual or potential Significant Harm, must bear in mind that unusual non-school attendance, missed appointments, cancelled or abortive home visits, may indicate that the family has moved out of the area.
This possibility must also be borne in mind when there are concerns about an unborn child who may be at future risk of Significant Harm.
These procedures apply if a child in the following circumstances goes missing or cannot be traced:
These procedures also apply to adults whose whereabouts become unknown in the following circumstances:
In any of the above circumstances the relevant Children’s Social Care Services team holding case responsibility must be notified immediately.
The Children’s Social Care Services team must then inform the Manager of the Review and Child Protection Unit and the Police.
The Manager of the Record of Children Subject to a Child Protection Plan must be informed if a child who has a Child Protection Plan goes missing.
The Children’s Social Care Services team must contact all local agencies who know the child to inform them of the situation and where the child is the subject of a Child Protection Plan all members of the Core Group must be informed in writing.
Existing records in these agencies must be checked to obtain any information, which may help to trace the missing child, e.g. details of friends and relatives, and this information should be passed to the police officer undertaking the missing person enquiry.
If after following the above steps the child has not been traced, a Strategy Discussion/Meeting chaired by a Children’s Social Care Services manager must be convened within 5 working days.
Members of the Strategy Discussion/Meeting will need to consider whether to circulate other local authorities and other agencies in the area in which the child and family are thought to have gone.
Consideration should be given to national notification of authorities and agencies including social security, the benefits agency and child benefit agency. The Police will also give consideration to seeking assistance from the Department for Work and Pensions.
If there is any suspicion that the child may be removed from UK jurisdiction, appropriate legal interventions should be considered and Legal Services consulted about options. It may also be appropriate to contact the Child Abduction Unit or the Consular Directorate at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which may be able to follow up a case through their consular post in the country or countries concerned.
If the Strategy Discussion/Meeting agrees that the details of the child or family are to be circulated to other local authorities, the social worker should draft a short letter giving details of:
The letter should be sent to the Head of Service, Safeguarding Children for distribution to her/his peers nationally, who in turn should circulate within their own Children’s Social Care Services and local agencies.
The Head of Service, Safeguarding Children should inform the Head of Children’s Social Care Services and the Council's Press office.
If the child is subject to a Child Protection Plan and not found within 20 working days, the Child Protection Review Conference must be brought forward to consider whether any other action should be taken.
When a child is found, there should, if practicable, be a further Strategy Discussion/Meeting within one working day, attended by previously involved agencies to consider:
Any child who is found following a period missing should, regardless of whether s/he is believed to have experienced, or be at risk of, Significant Harm, be offered an interview by a social worker and/or the Police liaison officer or an independent person.
This interview should provide a safe opportunity for the child to discuss any concerns regarding her/his care.
If the child indicates a wish to be interviewed by an alternative professional, all reasonable efforts must be made to accommodate the child’s wishes.
If the child has been found outside the Walsall area and is not likely to return, representatives of the ‘receiving’ local authority must be involved in the Strategy Discussion and the transfer of responsibility for and/or services to the child and family must be discussed - see Children Moving Across Boundaries Procedure.
If the child is subject to a Child Protection Plan, consideration must be given by the social worker and Manager in consultation with the Conference Chair, as to the need to bring forward the next Child Protection Review Conference.
The Manager of the Review and Child Protection Unit must ensure that a system for keeping and referring to a list of the ‘Notifications of children and/or families who are missing’ is in place.
If, after 2 years there is no communication from the authority where the child and/or family went missing, the child and/or families details will be removed from the list.
In this section, the term “Children Missing Education Officer” is used to mean the named point of contact in the education service, who is responsible for receiving details of children missing from education and for brokering support for them through the most appropriate agencies.
As a result of daily registration, schools are particularly well placed to notice when a child has gone missing.
Head teachers should inform the Children Missing Education Officer and the child’s social worker immediately a child subject to a Child Protection Plan is missing.
In the more general circumstances of a child going missing, who is not known to any other agencies, the Head Teacher should inform the Children Missing Education Officer and Education Welfare Officer of any child who has not attended for 10 days without provision of reasonable explanation.
The Children Missing Education Officer should ensure through the Education Welfare Officer that reasonable enquiries are made - e.g. home visits, liaison with Children’s Social Care Services and/or Housing - and notify the school if it appears that the child has moved out of the area.
If no information is forthcoming within 2 days, the Children Missing Education Officer should alert her/his manager, who should inform the Children’s Social Care Services and the Police in writing.
Where any agency in contact with children and families believes that a child is not on the roll of a school or receiving Education Otherwise, then this information should be passed to the Children Missing Education Officer with any details they have of the child in question.
Where a child on a school roll is missing, the child’s name may not be removed from the school roll until s/he has been continuously absent for at least 4 weeks and both the school and the education service have failed, after reasonable enquiry, to locate the pupil and her/his family.
In these circumstances the child’s name is kept on a centrally held register and should be clearly identified as missing from education.
Where the child’s name has been removed from the school roll, but s/he has not been located, the Head Teacher should retain the pupils records until the child is located.
If the Children Missing Education Officer becomes aware the child has moved to another school s/he should ensure all relevant agencies are informed and arrangements made to forward records from the previous school.
For detailed guidance see Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities in England to Identify Children not Receiving Education, published by the DfES in February 2007
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