The Independent Children's Homes Association (ICHA) made the comments after children's minister Nadhim Zahawi revealed statistics in parliament showing that the average child living in a children's home goes missing nearly five times a year.
In total young people living in English children's homes were reported missing more than 50,000 times in the last three years. The government has conceded that the true figure could be far higher as local authority recording has improved since they were first required to collate the data in 2015.
However, the organisation that represents children's homes has questioned the way in which the figures have been collected, claiming the numbers cited are far higher than the reality experienced by their members.
Jonathan Stanley, chair of the ICHA, said: "The ICHA sees it as unacceptable for such uncorroborated and potentially incendiary material to be published by a government.
"The public may receive these statistics as reality. The data is misleading in the extreme."
Register Now to Continue Reading
Thank you for visiting Children & Young People Now and making use of our archive of more than 60,000 expert features, topics hubs, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:
What's Included
-
Free access to 4 subscriber-only articles per month
-
Email newsletter providing advice and guidance across the sector
Already have an account? Sign in here
