Safeguarding Children Missing from Care, Home and Education - Ealing Local Practice Guidance
This protocol provides a local context to the Pan London Child Protection Procedures for Children Missing from Care and Home and should be read in conjunction with these.
London Safeguarding Children Procedures, Children Missing from Care Home and Education
The protocol is designed to support an effective and collaborative safeguarding response from all agencies involved when a child goes missing and should be read in conjunction with national statutory guidance including:
- Working Together to Safeguard Children;
- London Safeguarding Children Procedures;
- Children Missing Education: Statutory guidance for local authorities:
And Pan London procedures:
Reasons for why a child goes missing are variable. They are often referred to as ‘push’ or ‘pull’ factors. A child can be ‘pushed’ from something, including (but not limited to) abuse, neglect, family conflict, and bullying. Alternatively, a child can be ‘pulled’ towards something, for example those who wish to groom children or young people for the purpose of sexual or criminal exploitation. The potential risk to a child who goes missing, be this once or on multiple occasions is unique to their situation and needs and these should be considered every time a child goes missing.
The purpose of this protocol is to assist practitioners across all agencies to develop a robust response to children who go missing from home, care or education. This will include preventing the child suffering harm and recovering them to a place of safety as soon as possible.
Children who are missing may be at greater risk of harm as a consequence of their basic need for food, safety, shelter, and/or from the people whom they may come into contact with. Risks can include physical harm, sexual exploitation, self-harm, substance abuse, radicalisation, criminal exploitation, and involvement in a range of other criminal activities. Additional vulnerabilities include age, level of understanding, or the significance and seriousness of the circumstances that led to the missing episode may also be present.
The following principles should be adopted by all agencies in relation to identifying and locating children who go missing:
- The safety and welfare of the child is paramount;
- Locating and returning the child to a safe environment is the main objective;
- Every missing child who returns will be offered a return interview by someone other than the direct carer;
- Every missing child who returns will be offered an independent third-party return interview;
- Interventions are important in attempting to address repeat missing episodes and must be reflected in children’s plans. The child’s view will be a crucial consideration in determining the best method of engagement and intervention;
- This protocol should be read as guidance and cannot anticipate every situation. Anyone working with children in a professional capacity should use their judgement and take whatever action is deemed necessary to safeguard a child.
Child: For the purposes of this document a child is anyone under the age of 18.
Missing child: a child reported as missing to the police by their family, carers or professionals working with them.
Looked after child: a child who is looked after by a local authority by reason of a care order or being accommodated under section 20 of the Children Act 1989.
Responsible local authority: the local authority that is responsible for a looked after child’s care and care planning.
Host local authority: the local authority in which a looked after child is placed when placed out of the responsible local authority’s area.
Care leaver: an eligible, relevant or former relevant child as defined by the Children Act 1989.
Unauthorised absence: A Child Looked After whose whereabouts are known but who is not at their placement or place, they are expected to be, and the carer has concerns or the incident has been notified to the local authority or police.
Children Missing Education: children of compulsory school age who are not registered pupils at a school and are not receiving suitable education otherwise than at a school.
Missing: Anyone whose whereabouts cannot be established will be considered as missing until located, and their well-being or otherwise confirmed (National Police definition).
Police guidance states that children whose whereabouts are known will not be considered missing, but police activity may still be required to ensure their welfare… this includes children in care who are deemed to have an unauthorised absence.
Risk Level:
The police’s grading of risk determines the police response so it important that workers share accurate, full and current information to inform police risk assessment. Workers should have knowledge of the current risk classification by police (risk level reviewed regularly) and when appropriate can challenge and request review of the threshold decision by police. (see below Police Response to missing children).
Key factors used to inform risk level include:
- Age, vulnerability and developmental stage of the child;
- Underlying family relationship difficulties;
- Previous patterns of missing;
- Disability;
- Drug or alcohol use;
- Mental health issues;
- Extrafamilial Harm concerns (exploitation, gangs, serious youth violence, radicalisation).
The strategic leads for children missing from home and care in Ealing Children’s Services are:
- The Assistant Director, Children’s Social Care;
- Head of Safeguarding Review and Quality Assurance.
Lead responsibility for missing children within the police is the Detective Inspector for Missing Persons, West Area BCU Public Protection.
The strategic lead for Health is The Designated Nurse for Safeguarding Children, NHS North West London Integrated Care Board (ICB) Ealing.
The strategic lead for children missing education is the Head of Access and Inclusion.
The responsibilities of the strategic leads include ensuring the partnership identifies and safeguards missing children and young people and having robust processes in place to support this work. This includes a strong training offer and consistent thresholds and responses to children who go missing. In addition, the strategic leads will ensure the evaluation and analysis of performance data and return home interviews to improve strategic planning, prevention and response to children who go missing. This will include monthly reports on Vulnerabilities Screening Tools, Missing, Return Home Interviews and themes emerging from these to Children’s Services Performance and Development (PAD) Board and the Multi Agency Child Exploitation (MACE) Panel.
Contact details for strategic leads can be found in Appendix 1: Key contacts. This list includes contacts of other professionals in children’s services and health who can support operational work (for example strategy meetings). Also included are details of external agencies that can provide support around advocacy and supporting children to return.
Children may go missing from home or care for a number of reasons. Parents and carers are expected to undertake a number of actions to try and locate a child who is missing before reporting them to the police, as long as it is safe to do so and are as follows:
- Fully search the accommodation and surrounding area / vehicles;
- Search the home for any important information on where the child may be/what they may be doing (for example mobile phones, diaries, letters, notes explaining absence, emails, and website activity etc.) which may inform the investigation and / or assist in protecting or recovering the child;
- Speak with other children / young people in the family or others who live in the home to obtain relevant information about the missing child;
- Make all appropriate enquiries with regards to the whereabouts of the child. This will involve trying to contact the missing child, friends, family, associates, appropriate locations, local hospitals, and the local police custody office;
- Attending a place where the child is known to be and collecting them if it is safe to do so.
For children missing from home and care, it is expected that the parents or carers will inform the police without delay. When referring the child to the police, any relevant information that might help find or support the child should be shared, including:
- Description of the child and their clothing;
- Details of where the child was last seen and with whom;
- Recent photograph of the child;
- Relevant addresses, known associates, and addresses frequented;
- Previous history of absenteeism and circumstance of where they were found;
- Circumstances under which the child is missing;
- Any factors that increase the risk to the child.
If a child has previously been missing, it may be helpful for parents or carers to have details of the child recorded and ready to share with the police in the instance of a further missing episode.
Police will decide regarding whether a person will be classified as missing or absent and the level or risk that they are deemed to be at (high, medium, low). Metropolitan police policy is that children under the age of 18 cannot be classified as low risk.
| Level of risk | Definition | Response |
|---|---|---|
| High | The child is likely to be at risk or threat to themselves or others | Immediate police response with a senior officer leading the investigation; agreed media strategy; high level of inter-agency working |
| Medium | The child is likely to be at risk or a threat to themselves or others | Active investigation to locate the child and support for family whilst the search is carried out. |
A missing investigation will commence by recording the incident on police system Connect. This will generate a referral to social care.
Metropolitan Police policy is aligned to the College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice Missing Persons guidance which was last reviewed in February 2023.
ECIRS is the single point of entry for all referrals for children and young people in Ealing. ECIRS receive police generated notifications of missing children and will check Mosaic to see if the child is known to Early Help (SAFE) or statutory services. Where a child is known, the notification will be forwarded to the relevant team for actioning.
If a child is not known/not currently being worked with, ECIRS will create a contact and forward to the Assessment and Intervention team for appropriate follow-up, including Return Home Interviews. (see Appendix 2: Flow chart for Children not known to services) Where necessary cases will be passed to the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) for inter-agency checks to be completed to help determine threshold of need.
Notifications of missing children who are looked after by other Local Authorities are opened on Mosaic so there is a record of this information having been receive and information is then passed to the home Local authority and receipt is verified to ensure that it is known what response is being provided.
When a worker is alerted that a child is missing they need to check that a missing step has been opened on Mosaic and if it has not they need to open this step (see Appendix 3: Flowchart of Work Process for Children Known to Ealing Children’s Services). Police notifications should be uploaded into the step so that as complete a picture of the missing episode as possible is available.
A missing risk assessment should be completed. A professional judgement can be made in regard to how and when this is updated however a new risk assessment must be completed if:
- There is a significant change in circumstances;
- New information is obtained that may change the level of risk;
- A minimum of every 8 weeks.
Consideration should be given to completing a Vulnerabilities Screening Tool (VST) which is Ealing’s tool for considering extrafamilial harm. It is not an expectation that the VST is completed every time a child goes missing but should be completed at a minimum of the first time a child has been missing and at regular intervals thereafter.
For children missing more than 5 days a strategy meeting must be convened. Professional judgment should be used and if there are concerns for the safety of the missing child this meeting can be held sooner than 5 days. It is good practice to set this meeting up prior to day 5 of the missing episode. All relevant professionals should be invited to this meeting, including missing police. This meeting can be chaired by the Missing Coordinator, a Contextual Safeguarding Advisor (CSA) or a DTM/TM. Where the Missing Coordinator or CSA is unable to chair the meeting they can be consulted. A suggested agenda is attached – see Appendix 4: Missing Strategy Meeting Agenda. The availability of the Missing Coordinator or a CSA to chair a meeting should never be a reason for a meeting to be delayed.
The strategy step needs to remain open until the child is located and review strategy meetings need to take place a minimum of every 28 days throughout the missing episode although professional judgement should be used to determine the frequency of reviews.
If the child returns home before the strategy meeting takes place, then it does not need to go ahead, however there may be value in proceeding with the meeting to consider information gathered from the RHI, consider if the child/young person has suffered harm and plan for how future missing episodes may be prevented. This decision should be made by the TM/DTM in consultation with the Missing Coordinator or CSA.
A core group/network/professionals meeting could be called instead to consider the above, and what, if anything, in the plan needs to be reviewed/amended.
When a child who is subject to a Child Protection (CP) Plan goes missing the following actions need to be taken in addition to those outlined above:
- Complete Appendix 5 Referral List of Children Subject of Child Protection Plans and Vulnerable Persons Going Missing (Also Known as the National Alert form). A copy of this can also be obtained from Child Protection Admin. On completion of the form send it back to Child Protection Admin who will distribute this electronically to all other Local Authorities and ensure that a copy is placed on the child's Mosaic record;
- Inform the allocated Child Protection Advisor (CPA);
- Inform the Head of Safeguarding, Review and Quality Assurance (SRQA), the relevant Head of Service (HoS) and the Designated Nurse by email using the Missing Escalation form (Appendix 6: Missing Escalation Form) and record a copy of this on the child’s Mosaic record;
- If the child is still missing after 5 days, the Assistant Director Children's Services must be notified by email. The Director will inform the Strategic Director, Lead Member for Children and the Corporate Parenting Board within 7 days of the child going missing.
Research shows that children who are looked after by the Local Authority are over-represented in the cohort of children who go missing (Ofsted, Missing Children, 2013). The reasons for this are complex and include over reporting of this cohort of children. However, research also shows that children who are looked after are more vulnerable to extrafamilial harm. As corporate parents, the local authority has additional responsibilities to children in our care.
The risk of a child or young person going missing from care should be considered for all children looked after irrespective of age however the vulnerability of children aged over 11 and children who have been missing previously require particular attention. Looked after children have additional vulnerabilities and a higher risk of becoming missing by virtue of their looked after status. Looked after children and care leavers may be particularly vulnerable to exploitation.
At the first Placement Planning Meeting the risk of missing and associated other risks must be discussed. The risk of a child who is looked after going missing must be included on the agenda for the first Looked After Child (LAC) Review. The allocated Social Worker should ensure this is referred to within the report and the IRO should ensure the discussion about the risk of the child being missing and response needed, including expectations of carers prior to reporting the child missing to police.
Grab Packs:
The Grab Pack is a summary document of key information about the child developed by the police for use by Ealing CSC staff. A Grab Pack should be completed for all open cases where there is a risk that a child or young person may go missing.
The Grab Pack should be shared with the police and the professional network. If there are additional risk concerns (e.g., serious youth violence or child sexual exploitation) and a specialised risk assessment exists, this should also be shared with the police. The Grab Pack should be updated whenever the risk changes or every three months, whichever comes first.
The Grab Pack should contain all relevant information to assist the police in locating and returning the child or young person. The information in the Grab Pack is an invaluable tool for minimising risks as early as possible. An updated form should be provided to the police whenever a child or young person is reported missing.
The Grab Pack form must be completed as thoroughly as possible, with a copy scanned and retained on the child’s or young person’s MOSAIC record. If a child or young person goes missing, the completed Grab Pack must be promptly provided to the police.
The Grab Pack should be completed and updated for each LAC Review (Appendix 7: Looked After Child Information Sharing Form (Grab Pack)). This form should be completed with the young person where possible and a copy should be held on the child’s Mosaic file and by the carer/residential placement. If the child goes missing this form must be provided to Police.
The main person caring for the child is responsible for trying to contact the child who is missing or absent to ascertain their wellbeing and whereabouts. They should phone, text or try to contact the child through other means (e.g. email/social media where appropriate etc.). They should also contact any known friends or family where this is deemed safe and appropriate. They must also search the immediate area outside the placement.
If the child is contactable but not agreeing to return to the placement the carer should liaise with the allocated Social Worker to decide if the child needs to be reported as missing to the police. This will be determined by professional judgement based on known risk factors and strengths.
If the child is not contactable the carer should report the child missing to the police and to the allocated SW in Ealing Children's Social Care.
If the carer suspects that the child who is missing is at risk of harm, regardless of whether the child is contactable or not, the child should be reported as missing to the police and Children’s Social Care.
When a worker is alerted that a child is missing they need to check that a missing step has been opened on Mosaic and if it has not they need to open this step (see Appendix 3: Flowchart of Work Process for Children Known to Ealing Children’s Services). Police notifications should be uploaded into the step so that as complete a picture of the missing episode as possible is available.
A missing risk assessment should be completed. A professional judgement can be made regarding how and when this is updated however a new risk assessment must be completed if:
- There is a significant change in circumstances;
- New information is obtained that may change the level of risk;
- A minimum of every 8 weeks.
For children missing more than 3 days a strategy meeting must be convened. Professional judgment should be used and if there are concerns for the safety of the missing child this meeting can be held sooner than 5 days. It is good practice to set this meeting up prior to day 5 of the missing episode. All relevant professionals should be invited to this meeting, including missing police. This meeting can be chaired by the Missing Coordinator, a Contextual Safeguarding Advisor (CSA) or a DTM/TM. Where the Missing Coordinator or a CSA is unable to chair the meeting they can be consulted. A suggested agenda is attached - see Appendix 4: Missing Strategy Meeting Agenda. The availability of the Missing Coordinator or a CSA to chair a meeting should never be a reason for a meeting to be delayed.
The strategy step needs to remain open until the child is located and review strategy meetings need to take place a minimum of every 28 days throughout the missing episode although professional judgement should be used to determine the frequency of reviews.
If the child returns home before the strategy meeting takes place, then it does not need to go ahead, however there may be value in proceeding with the meeting to consider information gathered from the RHI, consider if the child/young person has suffered harm and plan for how future missing episodes may be prevented. This decision should be made by the TM/DTM in consultation with the Missing Coordinator or CSA.
Further steps that need to be taken by social care staff:
- Complete the National alert notification Once completed a copy should be placed on the child’s Mosaic file and a copy sent to the CP@ealing.gov.uk for electronic distribution to other Local Authorities. See Appendix 5: Referral List of Children Subject of Child Protection Plans and Vulnerable Persons Going Missing (Also Known as the National Alert);
- The IRO and Children’s Guardian (where relevant) must be notified that the child is missing and the date of the strategy meeting;
- Inform the Head of Safeguarding, Review and Quality Assurance (SRQA), the relevant Head of Service (HoS) and the LAC Nurse by email using the Missing Escalation form (Appendix 6: Missing Escalation Form) and record a copy of this on the child’s Mosaic record;
- If the child is still missing after 5 days the Assistant Director Children's Services must be notified by email. The Director will inform the Executive Director, Lead Member for Children and the Corporate Parenting Board within 7 days of the child going missing;
- Inform the child’s’ parent/those with PR that the child is missing unless this is inconsistent with the child’s welfare.
Regardless of which team a child is in, once the child has returned home or to their placement social care have a duty to assess the child’s wellbeing.
Police will carry out a Safe and Well check with the child. Safe and Well checks are carried out by local police (local to where the child is living). These should not be confused with Return to Home Interviews. Safe and Well checks are usually brief. The purpose of a Safe and Well check is to establish if the child is now safe, whether they need any medical attention, if they have been a victim or committed a crime and where they have been.
9.2.1
Social Care staff need to update the Mosaic step with the details of when the child has returned.
9.2.2
Consideration should be given to completing a Vulnerabilities Screening Tool (VST) (accessed through Mosaic) to help identify any extrafamilial harm concerns that may have arisen or be present for the child who has been missing.
9.2.3
Social Care staff need to offer a Return Home Interview to every child who has gone missing.
A Return Home Interview is a piece of direct work with the child/young person who has been missing to "understand why the child has gone missing, identify harm that may have occurred whilst away, understand what may help prevent future missing episodes, help the young person feel safe and understand how they can ask for help to prevent future missing episodes and to provide information on how to stay safe if they go missing again". An RHI CANNOT be completed by someone the child lives with.
The offer of an RHI should be made, and ideally completed, within 72 hours of the child returning to their home or placement. All children should be offered the opportunity to speak with their allocated worker (where they have one) or with an independent worker. In Ealing, independent RHI’s are offered through the RHI Champion pool (see Appendix 8: RHI Champions Terms of Reference).
If a child refuses a Return to Home Interview, then all efforts should be made to interview the parent or carer. The pro forma (see Appendix 9: Return to Home Interview Guidance) also contains questions for parents/carers as guidance.
The RHI must be recorded in the missing step before the step is closed.
Information gathered from the RHI should be used to inform future planning and this information should be incorporated into work plans. Key information should also be fed back to police, particularly if the child has experienced harm or if there is information that could assist in locating the child should they go missing in the future.
9.2.4
A safety plan should be completed with the child to try to prevent future missing episodes and mitigate against risk/help the child return more easily/quickly should future missing episodes occur. Resources that can be used to support Safety Planning can be found here: Pages - Contextual Safeguarding.
It is a data requirement for social workers to obtain details of a child’s education provision (usually the school where on roll), unless too young. A child reaches compulsory school age on or after their fifth birthday. If they turn 5 between 1 January and 31 March, then they are of compulsory school age on 31 March; if they turn 5 between 1 April and 31 August, then they are of compulsory school age on 31 August. If they turn 5 between 1 September and 31 December, then they are of compulsory school age on 31 December. A child continues to be of compulsory school age until the last Friday of June in the school year that they reach sixteen. There is a central pupil database [CPD] which includes details updated termly (not live) of all applications and those on roll at Ealing schools.
If you are concerned that a child may not be in Education, social workers should contact the Children Missing Education (CME) Team: cme@ealing.gov.uk to check on educational provision in all cases unless confirmed with a school directly; thorough checks will be undertaken (name/dob/address/contact name) to ascertain whether the CPD has any record of the child. Details of lead contacts can be found in Appendix 1: Key Contacts.
Where a child is of an age when they should be in school but there is no record, the In Year Admissions/Children Missing Education (IYA/CME) Team will take on responsibility for following this up. When appropriate, joint working will be done with social care staff to engage the parent/carer and progress an application and admission to school. Generally applications for school places are expected to be made online at In-year Admissions, but in cases were there may be reasons making this difficult (language, motivation, illiteracy etc.) exceptionally paper forms are available. Where social workers or other social care staff are visiting the family, it may be helpful for them to take the form, assist and return it once completed. Alternatively, the CME team will progress and ensure this happens, arranging a home visit if necessary.
Social care staff can also support an application by providing a report on exceptional circumstances, which can give more priority on a school’s waiting list and be helpful if any appeal is submitted. The IYA/CME team will request this when appropriate. The IYA Team will give advice and assistance to families and professionals on vacancies, school preferences and journey planning; this is more critical where multiple siblings need to be placed.
Where there are existing safeguarding concerns or a child is subject to a s47 enquiry or child protection plan and he/she is unexpectedly removed from school by a parent or the parent decides that he or she intends to home school, the risk to the child/ren needs to be re-assessed in the light of this. Whilst most home-schooling arrangements are positive for children, if there are safeguarding or child protection issues you must review the risk with your line manager. If the child is the subject of a s47 enquiry or a child protection plan the network must be informed of the change to the arrangements for education. You must also notify the Exclusions and Elective Home Education team.
Last Updated: March 25, 2025
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