Missing children
It is essential that social workers act on all missing episodes, including those where young people are away from placements without permission as this may indicate the young person is at risk of exploitation.
All local authorities have a statutory duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children who go missing. Camden has a designated Missing and Child Exploitation Co-ordinator responsible for overseeing missing children processes. Missing episodes must be clearly recorded on MOSAIC and will be closely monitored so it is important that the processes set out below are followed to ensure information is captured in line with statutory requirements.
The CSCP missing protocol provides the multi-agency framework for dealing with incidents where children go missing from home and care.
Social workers should also follow the CSFH missing procedures for social workers for details on what actions to take when a child known to CSFH goes missing from home or care.
Where a looked after children placed in foster care, residential care or in Pathways accommodation has a history of missing episodes, social workers should ensure foster carers and keyworkers have access to the Metropolitan Police Grab Pack that provides them with information on how to respond to missing incidents including reporting the child to the police.
Every child who goes missing in Camden should have a return interview to give them an opportunity to explore the reasons why they went missing and its impact on them. Camden's Missing outreach workers based in the MASH are available to carry out interviews and can provide information and advice to social workers. The workers are:
Whitney Boateng
Shaniqua Maddix