'Alarming' number of trafficked children go missing from care
Neil Puffett
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
More than 750 trafficking victims and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children went missing in the space of a single year, with 40 per cent of them yet to be found, it has emerged.
A study by charities Ecpat UK and Missing People found that between September 2014 to September 2015, 28 per cent of trafficked children in care (167 children) and 13 per cent of unaccompanied children in care (593 children) went missing at least once.
Of these, 207 children (40 per cent of those who went missing) are yet to be found.
The authors of the report said there is a "worrying lack of consistency" in the way local authorities identify and record risk of trafficking and exploitation.
The report adds that data collection flaws, alongside the high numbers of trafficked and unaccompanied children going missing, suggest that the UK's wider child protection response is inadequate, leaving children vulnerable to re-trafficking and abuse.
The report calls on national and local government to reform the child protection system by immediately introducing child-specific training; urgently rolling out the national independent children trafficking advocates scheme; and resourcing safe and appropriate accommodation.
It also calls for improved data recording on trafficked and missing children; and implementing a co-ordinated national, regional and local response to the trend.
Chloe Setter, head of advocacy, policy and campaigns at Ecpat UK, said: "For too long, children who are at risk of exploitation, or who have been trafficked, have gone missing from care - sometimes repeatedly, sometimes forever.
"It is a national disgrace that this problem has remained neglected and these children rendered invisible by poor data collection and national co-ordination.
"Heading back to harm has attempted to shine a light on this problem and, in doing so, has unearthed an alarming trend of our most vulnerable children disappearing; hundreds of them never to be found.
"We must not accept this as a reality any longer. Every child that goes missing is a failure in our duty to protect them from harm."
Susannah Drury, director of policy and research at Missing People, said: "Any child who goes missing is at risk of harm, from sleeping rough or being a victim of crime or exploitation.
"Trafficked and unaccompanied children are especially vulnerable and in greater need of protection. It is therefore vital that any trafficked or unaccompanied child who goes missing is treated as high risk by the police and other agencies and that finding them and making them safe is always prioritised over any questions about their immigration status or criminal activity."
