Minutes:
Sonia Johnson, Head of Specialist Services, presented a report detailing the current arrangements for children who go missing. The report included an analysis of the return interviews that Children’s Social Care carried out with a child once they had returned.
It was reported that 55 children had been reported missing in Bracknell Forest during the period April to November 2014 and that there had been 110 missing episodes recorded, with several children being reported missing on a number of occasions. The majority of children reported missing were known to Children’s Social Care with the largest group of missing children being those falling into the Children in Need category.
Analysis showed that the average age of children being reported as missing had fallen over the past twelve months to a new low of 13 years old. This was considered particularly concerning because the majority of the work to educate young people was currently aimed at 14 and 15 year olds and this would need to be refocused to ensure that vulnerable young people continued to be targeted appropriately.
The number of different processes in place meant that it was not always possible to carry out a Return Home interview within the prescribed 72 hours. In the small number of cases where a child had not been seen within 72 hours clear audit trails setting out the reasons for the delay were available. With delays mainly caused by the length of time that it could take for information to be passed between agencies or to be processed out of hours and this situation was being looked at.
It was noted that if a child went missing on multiple occasions then they were more likely to say more if their Return Home interviews were carried out by the same person each time.
It was noted that Return Home interviews with
children who did not meet the thresholds for Tier 3 interventions
were usually carried out by Youth Services. Whilst this arrangement worked well none of the
interviews had to date resulted in either a referral to
Children’s Social Care or the completion of a CAF and work
would be done to ascertain whether this was appropriate and to
assure Children’s Social Care that potential issues were not
being overlooked.
It was questioned whether there might be any links with the Troubled Families programme.
It was acknowledged that the re-launch of the Safer Places Scheme would provide young people with support however the scheme was mainly aimed at known vulnerable groups and it was questioned what work was taking place to raise awareness generally amongst children and young people about the potential risks that might arise during the regeneration of Bracknell town centre. It was agreed that the matter would be followed up directly with the Education Department, the Secondary Heads Forum and Schools’ Designated Safeguarding Leads. (Action: Janette Karklins/Amanda Wilton)
It was recognised that the Multi-agency Strategy ‘Prevention: Children Running Away/Going Missing from Home and Care should be reviewed to ensure the correct terminology and this would then be launched by the LSCB as it was for all partners to use. (Action: Sonia Johnson/Jonathan Picken)
The terms of reference for the Sub-group Operations Group would need to be reviewed to ensure consistent terminology and a clear fit with the CSE Strategic Group. (Action: Jonathan Picken/Karen Roberts/Sonia Johnson)
The Board thanked Sonia for the comprehensive report and congratulated Children’s Social Care on the progress made to address this issue and improve processes around return interviews and hearing the voice of children and young people.