Harrow Council is intensifying its focus on the well-being of children in care, particularly those who go missing, as revealed in the latest Corporate Parenting Panel meeting.
The panel convened on Monday 30 June 2025, to discuss updates on several key areas, including outcomes for children missing from care, the performance of the Virtual School, and support for children looked after and care leavers, including those in custody.
A significant portion of the discussion centred on children missing from care. According to the Harrow Missing Child Guidance, each missing incident should be viewed as a warning sign that a child may be at risk of harm or experiencing significant issues. The guidance emphasises the importance of recognising abuse and avoiding language that hinders the ability to do so. The primary reasons children in care go missing in Harrow include potential harm, significant issues at home or in their placement, or ongoing abuse. Current research indicates that many children go missing more than once, and even short episodes can indicate significant risk.
The council adheres to the police definition of a missing person: anyone whose whereabouts cannot be established will be considered as missing until located, and their well-being or otherwise confirmed.
Key actions when a child is missing include notifying the police, contacting parents, and informing schools and other relevant agencies. A checklist is in place to ensure all necessary steps are taken, depending on the child's circumstances.
To safeguard children who repeatedly go missing, the council has implemented several measures. These include weekly discussions at the Missing Children's Meeting, as well as discussions at the MACE (Multi-Agency Child Exploitation) and SWARM (Safeguarding, Welfare and Risk Management) panels. Strategy meetings are held within 72 hours of a child going missing, and action planning may include police publicity, the use of CAWNs (Child Abduction Warning Notices) and Recovery Orders. Referrals to the NRM (National Referral Mechanism) are made when there is evidence of exploitation and modern-day slavery. Missing persons Police are provided a copy of the missing interview with a young person to ensure a joined-up approach and ultimately a better understanding of a young person for Police. Children in ASDT (Access, Support and Duty Team) and CLA (Children Looked After) all have uploaded photographs on file should these be needed.
Return home interviews are a crucial part of the process, aimed at capturing the young person's voice and understanding the reasons behind their disappearance. These interviews should be completed within 72 hours of the young person's return.
The panel also received updates on the new Leaving Care Service, launched on 31 March 2025, with the goal of providing accessible and responsive support to all care leavers. Considerable recruitment efforts have resulted in a full complement of thirteen personal advisors by the end of June 2025. A comprehensive training schedule, in collaboration with Harrow's Social Work Academy, is in place to ensure a consistent approach to service delivery.
Service delivery has been reorganised to include weekly drop-in sessions and a duty rota for enquiries. These sessions will focus on promoting care leavers' rights and entitlements, ensuring they understand the current Care Leaver Offer. The offer is to be revised and expanded in conjunction with young people's views and the contributions which professional partners can add. A specific event is being scheduled as a platform for this piece of consultation with partners such as education, health, early careers, housing and leisure. This will provide opportunity to build the concept of the Family Business
in the creation of fresh Council led initiatives to increase employment education and training for our care leavers. There has been a full review of care leavers' take up of their Council Tax exemption and those that are entitled are now confirmed to be in receipt of this benefit.
The Shaw Trust is introducing an employment and training project in July, targeting those aged 16-21 to help them engage in and maintain work or training.
Support for children looked after and care leavers in custody was also discussed. Young people in custody receive a weekly allowance from Children's Services for personal items such as toiletries. The weekly payment is just £10 as any more than this can place them under pressure from other prisoners who might want to extort them to benefit from their financial support. Two of the nine care leavers in custody were recalled due to not adhering to their bail conditions. It is important that they receive regular visits from either their social worker or personal advisor, as for some, this might be the only visit they receive, apart from meetings with their legal representative. Frequency of prison visits is very much dependent on the individual prisons but professionals are aware of this and ensure good planning to enable supportive contact. On release young people in custody are supported by London Borough of Harrow with provision of onward accommodation.
The Virtual School Headteacher provided an update on CLA performance in 2023-2024, noting that 84% of CLA in Key Stage 5 participate in education, employment, or training, higher than the national figure of 70%. Additionally, 15% of care leavers attend university, exceeding the national average of 13%.
Joy Bell, Participation Officer, updated the panel on the Participation Service's work since May 2025, highlighting progress towards offering care leavers work experience and apprenticeships. The Participation Service and the Early Careers Manager are collaborating to maximise opportunities for care-experienced young people. Care leavers can now attend dedicated drop-in sessions at a local community centre, where they are co-producing a dedicated app for Harrow's care leavers.
The panel also received an information report on activity and performance for children looked after and care leavers, noting that overall CLA numbers remain low compared to statistical neighbours and England averages. Harrow is in touch with a higher proportion of care leavers, who are also more likely to be in suitable accommodation and engaged in education, employment, or training.