Missing Children
“I was shocked when she ran away although, looking back, she was more of a loner than her brother. I now know that she had been missing school quite a bit. We stopped talking when my partner moved in, but had been really close before that.”
Warning signs
There may be none but does your child seem to be unhappy?
Are you sure that they are not truanting from school?
Has anything happened in the family that you haven’t talked to your child about?
Action
If you think your child might be missing from school, talk to the school or an Education Welfare Officer. Contact the Police if your child goes missing and you don’t know where they have gone. Don’t just leave it - research shows that children who go missing from a young age, or regularly, or for long periods are at risk of taking drugs, committing crime and being sexually exploited.
What to say
Make sure that your child knows how important they are to you. When you have to tell your child off, tell them that it's the way they are acting that's the problem - not them. If something has gone wrong in the family, don’t let your child think that it's their fault.
Prevention
Keep an eye out for changes in the way they act. Spend time with them and be interested in them. Do you know who your child's friends are? Be very careful about their access to the Internet and ‘chat rooms’.
The facts
- Make time for your child to talk to you about their worries - even when you have to tell them off
- You know how important a good education is - let your child know this
- Only keep them off school if they are too ill to attend and not for days out or shopping trips
- Be honest about things that might be happening in the family
- Look for early signs that your child might not be happy and talk to their school about these
- Help is out there please don’t be too embarrassed or afraid to ask<<li>
From home and school
The law says that parents must make sure that their children get a proper, full time education and it is against the law if their child does not go to school regularly and on time. Children who miss school are much more likely to have problems with their learning and getting the job or college place that they would like. They will often find it harder to make and keep friends and they are at much greater risk of getting into trouble in and out of school.
If they are missing out on school or lessons they are more likely to come across adults or other young people who might want to cause them harm.
When children miss school without their parents knowing, this is called truancy. Children who ‘truant’ regularly often do this because they are worried about something. There might be something happening on the way to or from school that is worrying them. They might be being bullied. They might be finding some lessons or subjects too hard (or too easy) or they might be having problems in finishing their
homework. Sometimes, children will be not want to leave home because they are worried that their parent might come to some harm whilst they are away.
Children from all sorts of backgrounds run away from home for lots of reasons. Many of us will remember planning to run away when we were younger because we felt unable to cope with our problems, or thought that nobody cared about us or because we thought we had been treated unfairly. Usually, if a child does go missing from home, it will be for a very short period - usually until the child thinks that the parents have noticed they are not there. Often, they will turn up at the home of a friend or relative.
When children run away, they are not being naughty - they are trying to tell us that they are unhappy or trying to find out just how much we do care about them.
If your child goes missing and you don’t know where they have gone, contact the Police.
Contacts
- Children's Assessment Team 023 8083 3336
- Children's Assessment Team - Out Of Hours Emergency Number 023 8023 3344
- Missing Persons Helpline (24hrs) 0500 700 700
- Message Home (for young people to get a message to their parents) 0800 700 740
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