What we do

The service is based on the belief that young people who go missing are children in need, and that these young people, who may be at risk of being sexually exploited, should have access to services at an early stage. The service began by targeting young women who were going missing.

Our aims

The Barnardo's Missing Service works to achieve the following benefits for service users:

• to enable young people who go missing from home to receive a sensitive response on their return
• to enable young people to receive promotional and preventative services or resources
• to empower young people to make alternative choices for a safer and more settled lifestyle
• to reduce the incidents of young people repeatedly going missing
• to enable young people to gain greater understanding of risks and their own vulnerability
• and to raise awareness among other professionals of the risks linked with going missing, such as vulnerability to exploitation.

We also work towards reducing the input of the police in investigating cases of young people going missing.

In order to achieve these outcomes, services have needed to focus on:

• responding speedily to reported incidents of young people aged 16 and under going missing in Kirklees
• offering a sensitive service which meets the individual needs of young people.
• offering preventative groupwork in schools and community settings for children and young people