Agenda item

The purpose of this paper is to update Corporate Parenting Panel regarding Missing Children and the continued improvement in performance and quality of practice

The Corporate Parenting Panel considered the Children Missing Review report, which provided an update regarding Missing Children and the continued improvement in performance and quality of practice.

The Panel received a short presentation overview from the detailed report from the Interim Head of Transformation, Julie Daley, and the Missing Lead, Hannah Franklin.

In brief, the presentation highlighted:

-        There was a 20% reduction in the total number of missing children in (January – December) 2021 in comparison to 2020.

-        25% (105) of the 425 children had been subjected to the Multi-Agency Child Exploitation protocol in relation to child criminal exploitation with concerns mainly relating to County Lines Drug Dealing.

-        31% (134) of the 425 children were in care of the local authority, which was 23% lower than for 2020.

-        The top twenty missing children were in care of the local authority and accounted for 41% of all missing episodes.

-        Key themes of repeat missing children included 95% of criminal and/or sexual exploitation; 85% were of Black, Asian or ethnic minority background; 80% were of Children Looked After of which 20% were unaccompanied asylum seeking children; 75% were children aged 17 years and above; 55% were male and 45% were female.

-        The Return Home Interviews (RHIs) was a statutory responsibility to understand why children go missing. The data showed 93% of RHIs was offered to children and 49% of the RHIs were completed. This was a result of children having the option to decline an interview. The service reviewed their process on this to enhance better practice in the interventions of children and young people.

-        There had been a development in capturing areas for improvement [such as building relationships between the young person and their social worker, foster carer or key worker] and working with EMPIRE in responding to missing episodes.

In response to queries raised by the Panel, the Interim Head of Transformation and the Missing Lead, clarified the following:

Foster Carers had a vital role to support the reduction of missing episodes in young people. With the depth of knowledge, it was key for liaisons with social workers to address observations, communications and other known contributing pull factors of a young person going missing, though it was noted that a balance of an independent person would see a young person reach out. Further, there was also within the RHIs a section for foster carers to contribute to the risks and understanding of missing episodes as standard practice. Additionally, The Director of Early Help and Children’s Social Care highlighted the legal requirement of corporate parents to ask young people of their wellbeing; there was more support provided for young people who presented missing, and further encouragement for parents and carers to signpost the young person to speak to an independent person so their voice could be heard.

During the consideration of the recommendations, the Panel discussed the following:

EMPIRE welcomed the flexibility in the relationship building with other key workers for young people to benefit from a better RHIs outcome.

The Chair welcomed the continued focus on children missing and missing episodes particularly with the 17 year olds and facilitating RHIs. In support, other Members were also pleased to see an increased focus on missing children and RHIs and supported the continuity of this focus, as the number of missing episodes in the past had been a concern. With the learned comments relating to relationship building, Members were in support for the renewed work around this.

The Panel RESOLVED: To

1.     Note the progress made to date including improved quality of practice.

2.     Note the further improvements proposed, which is designed to embed further cultural and operational changes to achieve positive and sustainable change to the quality of services provided to children and families of Croydon.

3.     Provide Corporate Leaders with an understanding of progress made to date and an understanding of the continuous improvements.

The Chair thanked officers for their report.