Children's Social Care Missing from Home or Care Procedure

3.1.1 The child is not an open referral to Children’s Social Care 

When the Police notify MASH/Child Wellbeing that a child has been reported as missing the MASH team opens a contact record on LCS. The MASH team will undertake the screening process and refer the child/young person to the Missing from Home Practitioner based within the Complex Safeguarding Team or, if screened to meet the threshold for Children’s Services intervention, will transfer to IRT for a Child and Family assessment.

Generally:

• If this is a first incident or there has been no other incident within the preceding 3 months, the Missing from Home Practitioner will undertake a return interview to the child and family to ascertain the circumstances of the missing episode and assess whether any intervention is required. If following the visit the Missing From Home Practitioner may determine that the child/young person meets Social Care threshold, then MASH will be asked to complete further screening for action/assessment;
• If there are repeated missing incidents, i.e. 3 MFH episodes within a 28-day period or child/young person has been missing for 24 hours or longer or there are safeguarding concerns the case will be allocated to the Initial Response Team (IRT) for assessment and a MFH Strategy Meeting will be convened.

• The assessment process will ascertain what level of intervention is required. This may include no further action (NFA), step down to team around the family (TAF), Child in Need (CIN) or Child Protection (CP). In addition, following assessment if there are concerns that the child/young person may be at risk of CSE or CCE then a referral will be made for intervention with the Complex Safeguarding Team (CST).

In cases where a child has an allocated social worker, and is subject to an assessment, subject to CIN or CP planning then the Missing from Home Practitioner based within CST, will undertake the Missing Person Return Interview MPRI within 72 hours of the child’s return. If the child is an open case to the Phoenix Team, the Phoenix case worker will visit and conduct the interview. The Missing from Home Practitioner will also contact the allocated SW regarding their assessment and findings.

When EDT receive a missing from home or unauthorised absence report on a case open to Children’s Services, the EDT SW will collect information and open the missing person episode on LCS. They will also record the information in case notes.

The Service Manager/Team Manager and Assistant Team Manager will receive a missing/absence alert in their LCS work tray so they can ensure a prompt response or delegate to a duty worker if the allocated social worker is absent.

The Team Manager and Assistant Team Manager will send an email to the child’s social worker and the relevant manager will ensure that the missing from home procedure and information is promptly followed up and is recorded correctly under the Missing Person Record. The Manager should add a management case note.

A strategy meeting will be convened by the social worker if a child/young person open to Children’s Services goes missing three times in a 28-day period or if the period of missing is for 24 hours or more or if for any other reason the risk is deemed high. For example, the age of the child or specific vulnerabilities due to learning/additional needs.

The social worker should convene a MFH meeting at which a Missing From Care/Home Risk Assessment and Action plan should be completed/reviewed/revised. The meeting should include the young person, their advocate (if requested), social worker and parents. The action plan should be reviewed and updated to minimise future risk of repeated missing episodes. It should include proactive steps to reduce further incidents

In all cases this Interview will be recorded as a Missing From Home Visit in Case Notes. The Missing Person Record is created when a child/young person is recorded as missing and the MPRI is to be created within the form section of LCS. The MPRI will be completed and input on the system within 1 working day of the interview taking place.

3.4.1 Children in Care to Bury

Children and Young People in Care who go missing from care placements or school are particularly vulnerable. Children’s Social Care must ensure that foster carers and care staff are fully briefed on the requirement to report a child/young person in care as missing to the Police and Emergency Duty Team (EDT) this reporting also includes unauthorised absences. Carers should be able to demonstrate that they have plans in place to stop children from going missing.

When EDT receives a missing from home or unauthorised absence report, the EDT worker collects basic information about the child/young person and opens the missing person episode on LCS they also record the information in the case notes.

If a MFH episode is already active and has not been closed the EDT worker will record the information on case notes and email the allocated social worker and the Team Manager and Service Manager as an alert will not be triggered.

The Service Manager/Team Manager and Assistant Team Manager will receive a missing/absence alert in their LCS work tray so they can ensure a prompt follow up or they will delegate to a duty worker if the allocated social worker is absent.

The Team Manager and Assistant Team Manager will send an email to the child’s social worker and the relevant manager will ensure that the missing from home procedure and information is promptly followed up and is recorded correctly under the Missing Person Record. The Manager adds a management case note on file to demonstrate that they are aware and what actions are required. The MFHRI with Bury Children’s Rights will be arranged and the information will be recorded and discussed where necessary with the social worker.

The Missing from Home episode will remain open until the date and time of the return is completed on LCS.

It is important that the missing episode is properly recorded or amended as either missing from care or unauthorised absence.

When the child/young person has been found, Bury Children’s Rights will offer and undertake a Missing Person Return Interview within 72 hours of their return. This will be undertaken by a Bury children’s rights worker unless the child requests a visit by their social worker, personal advisor or child & family worker. The worker conducting the MPRI will record the interview on the missing person record form available on LCS within 1 working day of the interview taking place.

The social worker should convene a Missing From Home meeting at which a Missing From Care/Home Risk Assessment and Action plan should be completed/reviewed/revised. The meeting should include the young person, their advocate, carers, social worker and parents (if appropriate). The action plan should be reviewed and updated to minimise future risk of repeated missing episodes. It should include proactive steps to reduce further incidents. The risk assessment should be shared with relevant agencies and information included in the Care/Pathway plan.

The SW/TM/ATM should review whether the child’s placement remains appropriate. Care plans must be updated to reflect missing from home episodes and include strategies to minimise future risks.

The social worker should keep the Independent Reviewing Officer appraised of the situation and seek the IRO’s views.

If the child/young person in care is still missing after 24 hours, the Team Manager/Service manager must provide a written briefing for the Strategic Lead and Assistant Director who will inform the Director.

A strategy meeting will be convened by the social worker if a child/young person in care goes missing three times in a 28 day period or if the period of missing is for 24 hours or more or if for any other reason the risk is deemed high. For example, the age of the child or specific vulnerabilities due to learning/additional needs.

The strategy meeting will be chaired by the Team Manager/Assistant Team Manager. Should concerns continue then the third strategy meeting in relation to missing will be chaired by the allocated IRO. The meeting must be multi agency and include the Police, Education, Health, Children’s Rights, CST and any other relevant professionals.

The chair of the strategy meeting must ensure the outcome of the meeting is fed back to the young person, carers and parents.

The purpose of the meeting is to identify any push / pull factors that need tackling, decide jointly on an action plan and identify any services that could provide support. Where appropriate the meeting should consider a referral to Social Care. In the case of ‘pull factors’ it may be necessary to target those in the community who harbour the missing person or exploit them with regards to CCE or CSE.

If the child / young person in care continues to be reported missing the management team and Police should discuss how best to proceed to reduce risks.

If a young person’s whereabouts are known and carers are satisfied that their welfare isn’t compromised, then they should be categorised as unauthorised absence.

Some children absent themselves from placement for a short period and then return, often their whereabouts are known or may be quickly established through contact with family or friends but the children/young person is not considered at significant risk. Sometimes children stay out longer than agreed as boundary testing which is well within the range of normal teenage behaviour. These children have taken ‘unauthorised absence’, and would not usually come within the definition of ‘missing’ for this Procedure.

Any unauthorised absence more than 24 hours should be reported to the Social Worker or EDT. A Joint decision between the social worker, carer should be made to determine a time limit within which any young person may stay in the ‘unauthorised absence’ category. If this agreed time lapses the young person would be deemed ‘missing’, and the police/EDT must be notified.

Unauthorised absences should be recorded on LCS under the Missing person Record. These absences must be carefully monitored as the child/young person may subsequently go missing or repeated absences could indicate involvement in risk taking activities that need to be addressed.

If a child/young person is initially absent from placement but whose whereabouts became unknown then an adjustment must be made to the notification to Missing and the report to the police/SW/EDT needs to be updated. The LCS record needs to be amended to show this change of status and the Missing From Care procedure followed.

Although the Police will not always identify these children as ‘missing’ or ‘absent under their procedures, occasions may arise when assistance from the Police may be required to remove the child/young person from where they are staying if they are felt to be at risk of harm. Liaising with the police is important to determine the risk to the child/young person. The Team Manager/Assistant Team Manager will keep the situation under review and will consult with their Service Manager\Strategic Lead as to when a request for Police assistance should be made. This will not be dependent on length of time away from placement but rather the risk the absence represents.

MASH records the missing information of any child/young person placed in Bury by another Local Authority (COLA). MASH notifies the placing authority that a child/young person in their care has gone missing. The child/young persons ‘placing authority’ is responsible for ensuring that robust planning is in place and that missing from home return interviews are completed. However, assistance will be given to another Local Authority if requested by MASH or Bury Children’s Rights on needs led basis.