Missing children

Young people run away or go missing from home and school for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes they are missing for a few hours, somtimes overnight, and sometimes for much longer; even permanently.

There are many reasons for their disappearance. They may feel the need to escape from trouble, pressure, problems or something they are worried about. They may feel bored and want to hang out with friends, or they might feel that no one cares; that no one would be bothered, or perhaps ven notice if they went missing.

Whatever the reason, the tragic fact is that children and young people who go missing or absent are more vulnerable to sexual exploitation, violent crime, gang exploitation, drug and alcohol misuse, and a host of other risks.

Children who go missing often head to town centres, parks or other locations where they mix with other young people, and in some cases, they become involved in substance misuse, criminality, harmful sexual behaviour, extremism etc. 

We know that child abusers and other criminals deliberately target such places to take advantage of these vulnerable young people.

Unaccompanied children

We are familiar with news stories of various refugee crises and that there are many asylum seekers arriving across Europe. Unfortunately, wherever there is pain and suffering or people in need, there are always those who seek to profit from the hardship others are experiencing.

Some children travel alone, sent ahead by their parents in a desperate attempt to ensure their children’s survival or safety, while others are orphaned on the journey. Many of these unaccompanied and separated children are called Unaccompanied Asylum Seeker Children (UASC) and they have to live with the trauma of having seen things that no child ever should. Some have even seen their parents killed and most have experienced trauma in one form or another.

Such children are extremely vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, and we know that organised gangs often try to exploit refugees and asylum seekers. This is difficult enough for adults, but unaccompanied children are even more at risk. In addition to the risks from those who would exploit them, there are risks from other refugees who may be desperate and can harm them in various ways.

We also know that some adults have claimed to be under 18 to secure a place of safety. This can again place the child at risk because they believe they are dealing with a peer, when in fact they are involved with an adult.

Trafficking and modern slavery

Children and young people can be trafficked into or within the UK to be sexually, criminally or financially exploited. They’re moved around the country and abused by being forced to take part in sexual activities, often with more than one person. Young people in gangs can also be sexually exploited.

Traffickers often groom children, families and communities to gain their trust. They may also threaten families with violence. Traffickers often promise children and families that they’ll have a better future elsewhere.

Trafficking is also an economic crime. Traffickers may ask families for money for providing documents or transport, but then the child or young person is taken into slavery and the gang profit from money a child “earns” through exploitation, forced labour, or crime. Often, they are told this money is to pay off a debt they or their family “owe” to the traffickers, however, interest rates and “charges” for accommodation and food mean that the person is unable to earn their way out of the situation they find themselves in.

Traffickers may:

• work alone or in small groups, recruiting a small number of children, often from areas they know and live in
• be medium-sized groups who recruit, move and exploit children and young people on a small scale
• be large criminal networks that operate internationally with high-level corruption, money laundering, creating large numbers of victims.

Child trafficking is child abuse. Many children are trafficked into the UK from overseas, but children are also trafficked within the UK.

It is important to understand that trafficking does not have to involve moving children long distances. It is possible for a child to be trafficked locally, or even within a single building. The point is that they are moved against their will and then exploited.

Children may be trafficked for:

• Child Sexual Exploitation
• Financial gain (including benefit fraud)
• Forced marriage
• Domestic servitude (such as cleaning, childcare, cooking etc)
• Forced labour in factories or agriculture
• Criminal exploitation such as cannabis cultivation, drug running, pickpocketing, begging, transporting, drug dealing, selling pirated DVDs or other fraud, bag theft, etc

Signs and indicators of child trafficking

TThe signs and indicators that a child has been trafficked may not be obvious but you might notice:

• Unusual behaviour or events such as many people arriving and leaving at a house
• Have to do excessive housework chores
• Rarely leave the house and have limited freedom of movement
• Not have any documents (or have falsified documents
• Have a prepared story which is very similar to stories given by other children
• Be unable or reluctant to give details of accommodation or personal details
• Not be registered with a school or a GP practice
• Have a history with missing links and unexplained moves
• Be cared for by adults who are not their parents or carers
• Not have a good quality relationship with their adult carers
• Be one among a number of unrelated children found at one address
• Receive unexplained or unidentified phone calls whilst in a care placement or temporary accommodation.

There are also signs that an adult is involved in child trafficking, such as:

• Making multiple visa applications for different children
• Acting as a guarantor for multiple visa applications for children
• Having previously acted as the guarantor on visa applications for visitors who have not left the UK when the visa expired.