Help for runaways to be enhanced
Neil Puffett
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Return home interviews by independent people will aim to get to the root cause of young runaways' problems.
An estimated 100,000 children run away each year and, in doing so, face dangers including sexual exploitation and being drawn into crime or drugs.
Although the majority return unharmed, about one in five experience neglect or abuse. And unless the issues that led to them running away in the first place are addressed, the risk that they will flee again persists.
In an attempt to improve safeguarding for this vulnerable group, fresh guidance, issued last month, will mean councils must offer children a return interview with an independent person when they come home. The move strengthens previous guidance, issued by the then Department for Children, Schools and Families in 2009, which only stated that councils "should" offer an interview and did not stipulate that it should be with an independent person.
The previous guidance was also that a return interview should be offered to children in care, whereas now they must be offered to all children, regardless of whether they have run away from care or the family home.
Cost implications
Campaigners have welcomed the move, but it will have clear cost implications for already hard-pushed local authorities.
Iryna Pona, policy adviser at the Children's Society, says awareness of the importance of addressing running away has risen in the wake of recent child sexual exploitation cases. "The understanding of the issues and risks associated with running away have been growing and we have identified particular areas where actions need to be taken because children are falling through the gaps in services," she says.
"There is usually a reason why children run away. If you know the reasons, you can intervene earlier and provide help and support to prevent future episodes."
The return interview is intended to draw out why they ran away in the first place and how to prevent it happening again.
"Information from return interviews helps build local knowledge," she says. "Children running away is one of the indicators of child sexual exploitation. It is helpful in prevention of children running away and also to help develop a response to child sexual exploitation."
The impact of return interviews has been clear in a number of local authorities.
Worcestershire saw a 30 per cent reduction in missing children incidents over a year following the introduction of return interviews.
However, research by the Children's Society last year found that in 2011/12, only 49 per cent of local authorities offered interviews to children missing from care, while just a quarter offered interviews to all children missing from home.
According to Andy McCullough, UK head of policy and public affairs at Railway Children, a charity that provides services for young runaways, of those councils that do provide interviews, the background of interviewers is quite mixed.
"What we find across the country is it is very hit and miss whether you get an independent service, a social worker or the police."
McCullough says it is important that interviews are conducted by independent people, but fears this may not happen.
"Hopefully, this guidance makes clear that whoever does the interview needs to be independent because young people, particularly those in the care system, have a distrust of people providing that care and of the police.
"But one of the things we are very clear about is it has to be one among a number of things in order to reduce the risks of running away.
"You need to wrap around services as well."
Reach Model
He advocates the charity's Reach Model, which incorporates seven services designed to provide children with support to their issues before running away, during their time away and after returning home. It features street-based youth work, family support, a local helpline, return home interviews, preventative education, emergency accommodation and one-to-one support.
"It is up to local authorities to make sure the structures are there," he says.
"In some local authorities, all their money is being spent on bread and butter child protection work, so it is not clear whether money will be available for independent return home interviews or whether the duty will be added to the already overburdened duties of social workers."
"We are a long way from making sure every child that runs away has a return home visit. We know a number of black and ethnic minority communities are underrepresented in terms of reporting children who runaway."
He adds: "We have to work with those communities to make sure parents and carers have confidence to phone up and say to the police that their child is missing, without the fear that sometimes comes with that."
MISSING CHILDREN CHECKLIST FOR COUNCILS
The guidance calls for local authorities to ensure they have:
- A clear definition of a child who has run away
- A lead manager in place with strategic responsibility for children who run away or go missing
- An adequate and up-to-date Runaway and Missing From Home and Care Protocol
- Ensured their local safeguarding children board has systems in place to monitor the prevalence of, and the responses to, children who go missing, to understand trends and patterns
- Effective working relationships with local police, the voluntary sector and relevant specialist services
- Clear procedures to offer interviews when a missing child is found
- Support services in place for children and their families
- A strategy to prevent children from running away and to deal with repeat runaways.