Taking a Chance? The Risks Associated with Going Missing from Substitute Care

Abstract

Studies have pointed to the link between running away and the need to escape abusing or rejecting parents'This paper reports on a study of over 200 young people going missing from residential and foster care in four local authorities. The proportion of young people missing from residential care was high, ranging from 25 to 71% of all 11 -16-year-olds in mainstream children's homes. Two types of absence were identified: the 'runaways' profile (those who ran away or stayed out) and the 'friends' profile (those missing to be with friends). There were variations in levels of risk for different sub-groups within the sample. Risks included immediate risks of victimization, sexual exploitation (including prostitution), offending and substance misuse. A longerterm risk of detachment was identified among those going missing often, involving high levels of non-school attendance, detachment from carers and involvement in offending and in substance misuse. Difficulties in the assessment of risk are discussed and approaches to managing risk for young people who go missing from substitute care are explored.

How far do they go?: A spatial examination of missing persons from hospitals

“…Specifically, while some missing persons are found at the location they were reported missing from, we find that most of those reported missing from one hospital location are, more often than not, found at another location. This is consistent with previous research, which shows that missing person cases more generally are often found in a location other than where they were initially reported missing (Biehal et al. , 2003; Shalev et al.…”

On Assessing the Scope of Missing Native Americans in Nebraska: Results From a State-Wide Study and Recommendations for Future Research

“…Findings show that at each time point, Native American Nebraskans are missing at rates that far outpace the state's missing persons rate and the missing persons rate for White and/or Asian Nebraskans; however, the missing persons rates for African American persons are higher than Native Americans at each time point. At the same time, consistent with prior research (e.g., Biehal et al, 2003; Newiss, 2005), results demonstrate that missingness is dynamic: the four point-in-time counts reveal that most Native American missing persons cases are resolved and resolved relatively quickly resulting in rapid changes regarding who is missing at any given time. This means that any research on this topic must be clear and transparent about the time frame and the data source(s) (e.g., a state clearinghouse, NamUs, etc.)…”

Profiling persons reported missing from hospitals versus mental health facilities

“…Specifically, 54.2% ( n = 320) of cases from hospitals and 45.8% ( n = 270) from mental health facilities involve runaways. This finding is notable because those classified as running away are documented in the existing literature as voluntarily going missing and often impulsively decide to leave (Biehal et al, 2003; Payne, 1995; Taylor et al, 2019). However, it is not clear from these data whether the missing episodes are the result of intentionality, accident, disorientation, or rebellion, among other potential reasons.…”