Going missing is a dangerous activity. A child or young person who goes missing just once faces the same immediate risks as faced by a child or young person who regularly goes missing. However, children who go missing when they are young (and/or more frequently) are more likely to face longer-term problems.

WSCB Missing from Home / Care Protocol has been created to provide a joined up multi agency response to children and young people who are missing or have gone missing from home and care in the Wigan Borough.

Although in many cases young people who go missing from home are already known to agencies and in receipt of support before they run away, all agencies need to be able to recognise and respond to risk factors that could lead to missing incidents. It is imperative that services identify those children who are just commencing a pattern of running behaviour and provide the appropriate interventions at the earliest opportunity to prevent future such incidents which may place them at risk.

The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is key to this protocol assisting agencies to identify and respond effectively to risk factors and put appropriate support in place, to prevent any potential missing incidents.