The Courtyard, 254 High Street, Croydon, Surrey, CR0 1NF

0208 253 1850

RETURN HOME INTERVIEWS – KEY MESSAGES

Missing is:

A person is ‘missing’ when their whereabouts cannot be established and where the circumstances are out of character or the context suggests the person may be subject to a crime or at risk of harm to themselves or another.

Absent is:

A person is ‘absent’ when they are not at a place where they are expected or required to be.

Return Home Interview Process:

When a child is found, they must be offered an independent return interview. These interviews provide an opportunity to uncover information that can help protect children from the risk of going missing again, from risks they may have been exposed to while missing or from risk factors in their home. The interview should be carried out within 72 hours of the child returning to their home or care setting.

Follow up criteria after a missing episode:

Identify and deal with any harm the child has suffered
Understand and try to address the reasons why the child ran away
Help the child feel safe and understand that they have options to prevent repeat instances of them running away
Provide them with information on how to stay safe if they choose to run away again, including helpline numbers
Sign-post and refer to other ongoing support or therapeutic intervention
Share information with partner agencies including children’s social care and police

Reasons why young people go missing:

Push Factors: Family instability, Domestic Abuse, Abuse/ neglect, substance misuse, problems at school, Bullying, Loneliness/ Isolation
Pull factors: To visit family or friends, to meet boyfriend/girlfriend, Problems with family contact, Peer Pressure, to attend ‘parties’, to take drugs/ alcohol
Risks: Grooming, violence, Sexual Exploitation, Criminality, Alcohol/ Drugs, Trafficking, Forced marriage, FGM

The Return Home Interview aims to:

•Reduce the likelihood of the young person going missing again and reduce risk

•Gain better understanding of child’s reasons and concerns when missing

•Raise the child’s voice in various forums around child’s experiences of missing

•Assess any relevant risks, i.e. sexual exploitation, trafficking, drugs or alcohol use

•Find out whether there are any adults or places “hot spots” that potentially pose a risk to them.

•Assess any safeguarding risks

Messages from Young People

Reduced Missing episodes: “I'm staying out but not as much as before, like I used to be like four or five days, not just one day, it's like, even if I do it in the holidays, it's going to be one day but when it's school days or college times, I, I won't do it, I will come and I'll focus on my education, so it has changed a bit.”

Frustration with care procedures: KL stated that she had asked her social worker if she would be given permission to stay overnight at her Nan’s house and that her social worker had said that it would likely take three months to complete the appropriate checks. KL explained that this could likely be a motivating factor in her going missing again if she was not given permission and support to see her boyfriend.

Rejection of parental boundaries: MN stated that the reason why she had been reported missing was because she had been going to visit her boyfriend in Tottenham and would sometimes stay overnight without informing her parents. She discussed how her parents were concerned as they had not met the boyfriend or his family so would not allow her to stay overnight.

Exposed to risk of CSE: AB reported that sometimes, whilst she is out on the street, older males aged approximately 25 will approach her and ask her to come with them. She stated that they will persist with this even after she has told them that she is 15. I asked AB if there had ever been an occasion where she had gone with older males who had approached her and she told me that there were occasions that she had done this in the past but had not done so recently.

Trafficking: BC reported that before she went into care she had been involved in selling drugs around Peckham. She told me that she was kidnapped and taken to a house where a gang gave her a car to drive and drugs to sell and that she drove around Peckham area selling drugs.

Involvement in Criminal Activity: DE told me that he has got into trouble whilst out with friends as he has often stolen various bikes including motorbikes and push bikes and has on one occasion been involved in stealing a car.

Exploited to sell drugs: DEduring his missing episode he had been selling class A drugs and stated that he had been offered this work by someone he knew and that he took the opportunity as he wanted to make money.