Missing From Home Service

Lara was referred to Safe in the City over concerns that she was regularly missing from home and vulnerable to sexual exploitation.

Regular appointments were made with Lara, however, at first her attendance was sporadic and it took a few sessions for Lara to be able to trust the service, because of the poor experiences Lara and her family had had with other agencies in the past.

Safe in the City worked closely with other agencies but maintained a clear focus with Lara working around the risks of her going missing.

Lara’s family circumstances also had to improve to support her to achieve and develop her well-being. Through core group planning and a working agreement with Lara’s family, positive changes are gradually happening.

A planned intervention with Lara is still in place and significant improvements can be seen through her improved school attendance and reduced missing from home episodes.

The Children’s Society’s Make Runaways Safe launch report reveals that every five minutes a child runs away from home or care in this country. In most cases children who run away do not get the help they need. Two thirds are not reported to the police. Eight out of ten do not seek help from anybody because, like Lara, they do not know where to turn or feel there is no one they can trust or fear the consequences.

The Missing from Home Service aims to address this by providing intensive support to young people who are at risk of or who have gone missing from home. The Children’s Society currently delivers the same service across Salford and Manchester (where it is known as Safe in the City) and we have been fortunate enough to secure three years funding through the BIG Lottery fund Reaching Communities programme to deliver a Missing from Home service across Oldham as well.

We also offer parenting support to parents of children and young people receiving intensive support from our service.

We work on both a one-to-one basis with individual young people or in-group settings.

If you would like to find out more about The Children’s Society Missing from Home Service, please get in touch with us on 0161 202 0977or via email scm@childsoc.org.uk