Children in Care and Care Leavers runaway report October 2013-March 2014 and follow up from October 2012-March 2013
Listening to the experiences of young people in the care of Barking and Dagenham.
Introduction
In the period from October 2013 – March 2014, 55 missing episodes were recorded. 16 young people who are looked after by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham were recorded as missing from placement for more than one evening. Collectively, this totalled 55 incidents of a young person being missing from their placement. Out of the 10 young people, 7 resided out of borough.
4 young people lived semi-independently/supported lodging, aged 16/17 years old.
3 young people were persistent runaways or missing from placement. 2 of the young people have been placed in secure or intense support units due to the high risk to themselves. The other young person has ceased the missing episode due to her boyfriend receiving a custodial sentence.
3 young people are 16 plus they were staying with friends and didn’t feel they had to report in.
The information is collated through the movement book that the Fostering and Adoption team update with information received from the Emergency Duty Team, police or the foster carer. Once a child has not returned to placement after 24 hours, the process of a missing child is instigated following the flowchart and risk assessment that all social worker and other professionals should follow. (Appendix 1)
Every four weeks, there is an information sharing group on children missing from education and also missing from care this is chaired and led by the Manager for Children Missing Education. The forum is a multi agency group that includes housing, YOS, health, as well as direct information from the police and other professionals that may be able to share information on any missing young person. In addition, a missing children strategic group (sub group of the LSCB) is held quarterly to discuss and plan the ways to support young children missing from care or home. This report informs the work of both groups.
The role of the Children’s Rights Officer is to ensure any young person missing from care is offered an return interview to enable to identify if there is a reason why they choose to go missing, why young people go missing from placement and what can be done to support them and in turn, prevent further incidents of being reported missing from placement. Additionally, there will be intervention/prevention work with young people that are recorded as having unauthorized absence.
The Children’s Rights Officer obtains a dataset made up of young people who are aged 12-18 and who were reported as missing from placement for more than one evening. The young person is called once we have identified they have returned to the existing placement or if a new placement has been identified. In some cases, more so with the 16 plus placements, it may be closed as they are not using the placement and are staying out more than returning.
Of the 16 young people who met the criteria outlined above, 8 young people engaged with the return interview. The others did not wish to engage as they felt they were not missing or there were no further episode once placed out of borough. However, telephone calls were made to ensure that they were ok in respect of being moved.
Each young person was offered a follow-up telephone call as well as the Children’s Rights Officer’s contact details should they wish to discuss the issue further. There was also a discussion around the services the team offer i.e. advocacy support, support groups etc.
The young people who agreed to participate were engaged in a discussion about their experiences, using the questions below:
1. Why did you not return to placement?
2. How were you feeling when you ran away?
3. Where did you go?
4. What did you do while you were missing?
5. Does running away make things better for you afterwards?
6. Did you intend to run away for good or come back?
7. What would have helped you in your situation?
Outcomes
1. Why did you not return to placement?
YP2, 3, aged 16 plus did not feel the need to inform their placements where they were due to their age and living semi independently.
YP4 aged 16 went missing from court. She was missing for nearly six months. She states that she is in so much trouble she may as well run.
YP1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 stayed with friends but would not disclose any further details as they didn’t want Children’s Services to contact their friends and start asking questions.
YP5 did not feel he was missing as he left his Carers after being told he would move and stayed out until the next morning (at a friends) then returned and kept in contact.
YP7, 8 9 returned to the family home.
2. How were you feeling when you run away?
As in previous reports, the young people said that they did not feel down or upset by anything, they wanted to stay at their friends. YP 7, 8, 9 felt they should live at home, but also said “I don’t think I could live there all the time”.
YP 5 said she needed to get away from the police.
YP3, 4, commented “we haven’t runaway we stayed with our mates we live independently why do we have to report every move.”
3. Where did you go?
All the young people reported that they were with people they knew and that most of the young people were in Barking and Dagenham or in nearby areas.
YP5 7 said she stayed everywhere with lots of different people but would not disclose any information to either the police or the Children’s Rights Officer. Both girls state they felt safe where they were staying and they knew the person well.
4. What did you do while you were missing?
YP2 chilled with his mates. He said that he sent an email to allow him to stay there but was told a week’s notice needed to be given.
YP1 returns every night but in the early hours of the morning and therefore does not acknowledge that he is missing. The police often pick him up and return him to his placement.
YP4 continued to get in trouble with the police and was eventually arrested.
The other young people reported that they stayed with family and friends and watched TV or played computer games.
5. Does running away make things better for you afterwards?
YP1 would not comment and he “don’t care.”
YP2, 3 said it “don’t change anything. I will still stay at my friends, I didn’t runaway.”
YP4 Is currently awaiting trial and is being supported by Barnardos, our independent advocacy provider.
YP 5 said “I spent Christmas with my previous foster carer, so it was ok.”
YP 6 said “it made no difference, I will see my mum when I like.”
YP 7 reported that it hasn’t made things any better. “I moved miles away from my family and only if they come and see me can I see them.”
6. Did you intend to run away for good or come back?
All of the young people in this dataset agreed that it was their intention to come back although all were worried about the possible consequences of their actions.
7. What would have helped you in your situation?
The young people felt that nothing would have helped in the situation. Several said it wasn’t planned and didn’t want to call anyone if case they were told to return to placement. The older children said they would go to the friends and stay overnight but were asked to provide a week’s notice on an overnight stay. They said this is impossible as they often do not plan to stay overnight.
2 young people who persistently stayed away overnight felt that they were told so many times they would be moved out of borough that in the end they didn’t really think that it would happen. They both said nothing would have helped at the time but understand that when they return to B&D they have to return to their placements and there are consequences and dangers they should recognize. .
YP8 said that they often tried to explain to her social worker that she wanted to see her Mum and felt that no-one listened. It was arranged that YP8 would move from her foster carers where she enjoyed living. YP8 and the Children’s Rights Officer worked together to ensure her wishes & feeling were heard and a contract drawn up. YP8 wished that she had more support earlier.
Summary
The young people interviewed and the young people recorded as missing will continue to be monitored to see if there are any further missing episodes. The young people will be tracked and a follow up report in six months times will give an overall picture and report on progress of what has happened since the missing episodes.
More importantly, most of the missing children that were recorded in the younger age group have now moved out of borough to places such as Wales. It is imperative that we keep in touch with the young people to ensure they are coping and understand the actions taken by Children’s Services to place them far away. The information provided by young people in this report continues to reiterate the message of the importance of listening to our young people.
The report concludes that there are very different sorts of running away, missing and unauthorized absences. The young people interviewed did not feel they had run away as all were going to return. Work needs to be undertaken to address this understanding in LAC.
It is important to recognise that young people continue to go missing from placements and as many stay with families and friends, they do not understand the implications. A suggestion may be more life story work to start as soon as a young person is placed within the care of the LA, and also for parents to understand the legality of allowing their child to stay at the home without informing the LA. This information has recently been sourced and implications are being shared within teams and professionals to pass to parents.
One young person admitted to being involved in anti-social or criminal activity whilst away. She was eventually arrested in connection with a crime and is to attend court for outstanding offences and new offences.
The young people who were interviewed made it very clear that they really wanted to be with people they felt cared about them. This is difficult to manage as other risks such as sexual exploitation and gang involvement can often manifest in this way. YP1 is believed to be involved with a notorious gang, the “Woolwich boys”. An intensive support package has been agreed for this young person.
The majority of the young people illustrated that they had an idea of the procedures to be followed by carers and social workers. However they were unaware of the services they could access for support, such as EDT, the runaway helpline, the complaints service, advocacy etc. There is a need to better publicise these services.
Recommendations and actions taken/ planned
The information retrieved from the young people have highlighted that further development work is required.
· Children and young people are given more information regarding advocacy and complaints procedures (e.g. young person’s complaint line, independent advocacy and the Children Rights officer’s details. A letter has been sent to every child/carer detailing services available.
· Parents and young people are informed of the implications and legality of letting a young person stay at their home. The service is looking at compiling this information as a leaflet for parents and young people.
· Ensure all teams are clear on the missing children procedures and the flowchart, especially when a young person returns to enable a return interview to take place. The flowchart has been developed and shared but it is an ongoing action to remind professionals of it.
· Provide an independent person away from the placement and social worker or a mentor to talk to the child or young person about the experience of running away, and how they can support them in being safe. Barnardos, the Children’s Rights Officer, Action for Children, and Link Up mentoring programme are all supportive factors. The police always conduct a return interview and can identify any safeguarding concerns to be reports to the Children’s Rights Officer.
· Tighter and time-related strategy meetings for young people that are missing, for regular runaways. A contingency plan should be developed to ensure that the LA is assured of the young person’s safety. This could include arranging for one particular place for the young person to stay when they run away. Although some meetings take place, they are not frequent enough.
6 month follow up report on Children in Care and Care Leaver runaways October 2012 - October 2013
Introduction
In the period October 2012 – October 2013, 53 missing episodes were recorded on the Social Care movement book.
14 young people who are looked after by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham were recorded as missing from placement for more than one evening and make up these episodes. These are broken down as follows.
8 young people, all back in placement, were persistent runaways or had previously been recorded as missing from placement, with whereabouts unknown or not confirmed. One young person has been moved to another placement, is currently pregnant and has not had any further episodes.
4 have been placed out of borough in residential units agreed by the Divisional Director and Director of Children’s Services with no further episodes of missing. One young person moved to a secure unit following agreement by the Divisional Director and Director of Children’s Services.