“When a child goes missing”: Care home staff experiences and practice reflections. Report produced by the University of Liverpool.

Children in the care of local authorities are significantly more likely to be reported missing, and to go missing repeatedly, compared to those living in family homes. Care home staff and managers (CHS/Ms) are often the first to identify that a young person is missing and are in a unique position to recognise behavioural triggers, assess risk, and provide emotional support. Despite this central role in prevention and response, CHS/M perspectives remain significantly underrepresented in the literature. Accordingly, this study explores CHS/M perspectives and experiences of the factors that facilitate or hinder responses to children who go missing from care settings. Analysis of 14 interviews with care home managers (N=10) and care workers (N=4) identified the following five key factors: Multi-Agency Communication and Collaboration: Feedback highlights the importance of timely information sharing and coordination between care homes, police, and local authorities but CHS/Ms report challenges. Increasing multi-agency training, meetings, single points of contact, and consistency in procedures and shared frameworks were noted as key to improving information sharing and coordination, strengthening relationships and clarifying roles. Child-Centred Practice: A child-centred approach was described as essential in preventing missing incidents and supporting safe return. Understanding individual needs, triggers, and motivations allows staff to intervene earlier and more effectively. CHS/Ms note the importance of flexible policies for enabling professional discretion so that context-appropriate decisions can be made about risks, and carefully matching children to care homes to enable tailored and stable support. Relationships with Children, Families and Communities: Stable, trusting relationships with children, families, and communities were viewed as central to preventing and responding to missing incidents. Negative interactions were reported to damage trust, limiting willingness for children to share information and engage. Professional Skills and Organisational Support: Training in trauma-informed care, de-escalation, and managing missing incidents supports effective practice. However, limited staffing, inconsistent training, and concerns around staff safety often restricted ability to respond, contributing to reliance on rigid procedures and the overreporting of missing incidents. Timely and Effective Return-Home Interviews: Well-timed and delivered return-home interviews were described as crucial for understanding the causes of missing episodes and informing prevention strategies. However, delays and inconsistent delivery were common, leading to missed opportunities to support children and build relationships. Drawing on findings from across interviews, recommendations are provided for how CHS/Ms and partner agencies can be supported to improve how they prevent and respond to missing child incidents.