Children going AWOL
Thousands of children in Yorkshire alone are going missing from local authority care every year costing a lot of time and money on trying to find them again.
South Yorkshire police data, following the Freedom of Information request, reported almost 1,000 children going missing from foster care and residential homes last year and officers warn that councils are failing to get a grip of the problem with many keeping hugely inaccurate figures as to who is actually in their care. Two councils in the Yorkshire region admitted that they did not keep complete records and some others said that they kept a record of missing episodes rather than children.
Though many go missing in order to see friends or family who are regarded as unsafe by the relevant local authority, those who do run away increase the likelihood of their becoming involved in drugs, crime and possible sexual exploitation. Police say that about 1,000 is spent on trying to trace every child who goes missing, so millions are spent in this way each year.
It s not a well publicised issue but important in terms of crime and, as mentioned above, the possibility of sexual orientation. What can local authorities do to keep the children under tighter control? Human rights legislation may become an issue if they are restricted on where they can go and who they can see. Hard to see a satisfactory conclusion to this one, but if you have any answers let us know!