Missing children
It is a key duty of East Riding Safeguarding Children Partnership to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people. This will be achieved by working in partnership with professionals and agencies effectively. When a child or young person runs away or goes missing from home or care he/she is at risk. It is the responsibility of East Riding of Yorkshire Council to protect children and young people whether they go missing from their family home or local authority care.
This Runaway and Missing From Home and Care (RMFHC) protocol has been developed by ERSCB and Humberside Police in response to the introduction of revised statutory guidance on Children who run away or go missing from home or care by the Department of Education in 2014 and Association of Chief Police Officers Missing Persons guidance.
You can download the protocol below:
ERSCP The Runaway and Missing from Home and Care Protocol (pdf 1.3mb)
What do you need to do?
If a child or young person is believed to be missing and at risk, this should be reported immediately to Humberside Police, contact number 999 or 101.
This should be followed by contacting Early Help and Safeguarding Hub (EHaSH) contact number 01482 395500.
While Humberside Police and the Local Authority undertake the lead roles, effective safeguarding arrangements should be underpinned by an approach that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. For services to be effective, each professional and organisation should play their full part. The approach should be child centred in that to be effective services should be based on a clear understanding of the needs of views of the child or young person as outlined in the statutory guidance Working Together 2018 which can be accessed below:
Links to other local guidance
Children Missing Education (CME)
“Children missing from education” refers to all children of compulsory school age:
- Who are not on a school roll or being educated otherwise (e.g. privately or in alternative provision) for example children of travelling communities or immigrant families who never are registered for education; or
- Who have been out of any educational provision for a substantial period of time (usually agreed as twenty days without provision of reasonable explanation)
For further advice regarding Children Missing from Education please contact the Access to Education Officer on 01482 392230
The CME guidance and protocol can be accessed below: