When a child in care goes missing
When a child in care goes missing, the first hours matter. Carers who’ve agreed a plan in advance can act quickly and calmly, and a child who knows they won’t be in trouble is more likely to get in touch. This guide covers what foster carers and children’s home staff can agree before a child goes missing, what to do when it happens, and what happens when they come back.
In this guide
Plan before it happens
Most of what helps when a child goes missing is agreed long before.
Know your missing procedure. Every children’s home must have a written policy for children who go missing, made with the local police and council protocols in mind. Every fostering service must have one agreed with the local police. Read it, and know where to find it at 2am.
Agree how you’ll contact the child. Record in the child’s plan how you’ll try to reach them, and who else they might answer: a friend, a relative or a keyworker.
Agree location sharing in advance. Decide with the child, and with their social worker, what location sharing is allowed in an emergency, and record it. In children’s homes, this is monitoring under Regulation 24: it must be for safeguarding, agreed in writing by the placing authority (the council responsible for the child), explained to the child in advance, and no more intrusive than necessary.
Talk to the child about it. Make sure they know they won’t be in trouble for getting in touch, wherever they are and whatever has happened.
Our guide to mobile phones for children in care covers the phone rules to agree at the start of a placement.
What to do when a child goes missing
If a child in your care goes missing:
If you think the child is in immediate danger, call 999.
Try their phone. Call, then text. Keep it short and calm: you want to know they’re safe, and they’re not in trouble.
Follow your missing procedure. It sets out what to check, when to call the police and who to tell. Don’t wait for a set amount of time if your procedure or your instincts say otherwise.
Write it down as you go. Note when you last saw them, what they were wearing, who they might be with, places they go, and everything you do and when. The police will ask, and you’ll need it afterwards.
If you know where the child is but they haven’t come back when they should, the statutory guidance calls this being “away from placement without authorisation”. Follow what your procedure says for it.
Who to tell
The statutory guidance says that when a child in care goes missing, the police, the placing authority (the council responsible for the child) and the people with parental responsibility should be told. Your procedure says who does each part.
Foster carers: tell your fostering service straight away, as well as the police. The service must tell the child’s council, the council where you live, and the police.
Children’s homes: tell the police and the placing authority, and follow your home’s policy on telling parents. Decide whether it needs an Ofsted notification (see Children’s homes below).
Report a child missing with one tap
Anyone in the child’s home on Voop can report them missing. Then:
Location sharing switches on temporarily, even if the child had it off, and they can’t switch it off until they’re reported found. The child can see when it’s on.
Everyone linked to the child in Voop is alerted at once, from their carers to any social worker who’s been added, so everyone can help and no one handles it alone.
The child sees a message on their phone saying you’re looking for them and they aren’t in any trouble.
Bedtime is paused, so the phone keeps working.
When they’re found, you record where they were, who found them and who they were with. Location sharing goes back to how it was.
The incident report has the timeline and the route. Download it as a PDF for your records, notifications and the return home interview.
Outside a missing incident, a child’s location is theirs to share or not. Safe-place alerts only work while they choose to share it.
When they come back
When the child comes back:
Welcome them back. Check they’re safe and well, and get medical help if they need it. Keep the first conversation about them, not the rules.
Tell everyone you told that they’re back: the police, the placing authority and your service or manager.
The return home interview. The council must offer the child a return home interview within 72 hours of their return, carried out by someone independent of their care. It’s their chance to say why they went, what happened and what would help. Share what you know with whoever carries it out.
Record it. Write up what happened, what you did and when, and keep the incident report with the child’s records.
Review the plan. If the child goes missing again, or you learn something worrying, ask for their plan and risk assessment to be reviewed. Watch for signs of exploitation. Our online safety guide lists warning signs.
Don’t take the phone as a punishment. It’s how you’ll reach them next time.
Foster carers
Your fostering service’s missing child policy is agreed with the local police, so follow it, and tell your supervising social worker straight away. The service must tell the child’s council, the council where you live, and the police. Agree with the child’s social worker, in the placement plan, how you’ll contact the child and what location sharing is allowed.
Children’s homes
Your missing child policy must take account of the local police and council protocols, and every shift should know it. Regulation 40 doesn’t name missing children, but it does require you to tell Ofsted and other relevant people, without delay, about any incident you consider serious. The government’s guide to the regulations says serious concerns about a child’s missing behaviour are likely to be notifiable: for example, a child at serious risk, or one missing for a long time whose whereabouts are unknown. Location sharing must meet Regulation 24.
Sources
This guide summarises the statutory guidance and regulations in England as they stood on 6 November 2026. It’s general information, not legal advice. Your missing child procedure and the local police protocol come first.
Show all 6 sources
Questions carers ask
When should I report a child in care missing?
Follow your missing child procedure, which says when to call the police. If you think the child is in immediate danger, call 999 straight away. Don’t wait for a set amount of time if you’re worried.
Should I call a missing child’s phone?
Yes, try it first. Call, then text. Keep the message short: you want to know they’re safe, and they aren’t in trouble.
Can I see a missing child’s location?
Only if it’s been agreed in advance, in the child’s care plan or placement plan, and the child knows. With Voop, location sharing only switches on without the child’s say if they’re reported missing, and the child can see when it’s on.
What is a return home interview?
When a child in care comes back after going missing, the council must offer them a return home interview within 72 hours, carried out by someone independent of their care. It’s a chance for the child to say why they went and what would help.
Do children’s homes have to tell Ofsted when a child goes missing?
Not every time. Regulation 40 requires children’s homes to notify Ofsted of serious incidents, and the government’s guide says serious concerns about a child’s missing behaviour are likely to be notifiable. Follow your home’s policy.
