South East Region National Alerts Protocol – Advice and Guidance
The purpose of this page is to provide advice and guidance for Local Authorities in the South East about how to manage national alerts. It is based on work completed by a task and finish group involving representation by five authorities (Kent, Slough children first, East Sussex, Achieving for children and Bracknell Forest).
The Government committed, as part of its response to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, to work with the sector to develop a National Framework. A fundamental aspect of strategies and responses to missing children subject to Child Protection Plans is multi-agency and partnership working.
Kent County Council invited local authorities to discuss the benefits of a shared response and structured process to National Alerts. It was agreed that a protocol, including a set of principles, for local authorities to adhere to would ensure a cohesive and structured response to children subject to Child Protection Plans who go missing with no known whereabouts. This page sets out what was agreed and provides resources to help authorities implement what has been agreed.
Purpose & Key principles
Each local authority has its own policy, therefore, there is no standard protocol for:
- The process for sending alerts.
- A central database of Local Authorities with agencies email addresses where alerts should be sent.
- The commitment and expectations for each local authority; the expected actions, such as how often or where searches will be undertaken; and who will be informed.
- The shared expectations around information sharing.
- The process for de-alerting when a child is found.
As part of this project Kent CC have created a model policy that can be adapted by other South East Authorities for their own use. A copy of the policy can be downloaded from the resources section of this page.
Criteria for a National Alert
National Alerts are issued on children (including unborn babies), who are subject to a Child Protection Plan who go missing from their residing area.
Each National Alert notification should be subject to the simple threshold test outlined below:
- Are the family really missing? – If they are known to be in a particular locality, but their address is not known, this does not constitute a National Alert.
- How do you know the child/family is missing, and for how long? – A National Alert cannot be completed until the child has been missing for 3 weeks. However, key questions should be considered and answered first:
- Are the family temporarily absent/ missing from their address?
- Are they staying with family/friends or away on holiday?
- Do friends/neighbours/family believe that they are “missing”?
- Do any of the key agencies have any knowledge of the family’s whereabouts?
- Does the Police have any information?
Exceptional alerts may be appropriate in the following circumstances and when all the threshold information above has been satisfied first:
Children who have disappeared immediately before, during or immediately following a section 47 investigation of serious allegations of significant harm where Social Care considers that there is evidence of sufficient danger to justify a National Alert.
Children on a Care Order who are deemed to be in danger because they have been abducted by a parent/individual who poses a significant risk of harm to the child and whose whereabouts are not known.
Children accommodated following significant child protection concerns who are deemed to be in danger because they have been removed without notice by a parent/individual who poses a significant risk of harm to the child and whose whereabouts are not known.
The following safeguarding principles should be adhered to in relation to identifying and locating children for whom a National Alert has been completed.
- The safety and welfare of the child is paramount, and locating and returning the child to a safe environment is the main objective.
- All local authorities have a duty to use their local knowledge, systems, and multi-agency networks to advise and assist where possible.
- The National Alerts notification system is from Child Protection Custodian to Child Protection Custodian (or Designated Officer). It should not simply be an administrative task.
- All local authorities agree to the timescales set out within the National Alert protocol.
- It is the responsibility of the local authority where the child/young person normally resides, to send updated alerts and a de-alert to all local authorities once the child /young person/unborn has been found, so as all searches in that area cease.
Sending a National Alert
Given the child is subject to Child Protection Procedures the level of risk will be categorised as medium or high. The level of risk will be clearly stated within the National Alert and should be aligned with the decision made by the police in accordance with the national decision model (NDM) (See resources section).
Each local authority will provide an email address where National Alerts should be sent (a link to a list of all email addresses used by authorities can be found in the resources section of this page).
Consideration should be given to whether the child or their family has links to areas either within the UK or abroad. This should be clearly documented within the National Alert.
Updating alerts
An alert update should be completed four weeks after an initial National Alert has been issued. However, an alert update can be sent and distributed at any time. Each situation should be treated on a case-by-case basis. At a minimum, an alert update should continue to be sent every three months.
De-alerts
A de-alert should be completed and sent to the National Alerts Database in the following circumstances:
- If the child/young person or unborn has been located, physically seen, and is no longer classed as missing.
- If the child/young person or unborn passes away.
The de-alert should be sent within 3 working days of one of the circumstances being considered.