DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
TALLAHASSEE, October 17, 2002
CF OPERATING PROCEDURE NO. 175-85
Family Safety
PREVENTION, REPORTING AND SERVICES TO MISSING CHILDREN
*(See also, FAC 65C 30.019)
1. Purpose. This operating procedure describes uniform policy for ensuring that prompt and comprehensive actions are taken when children are missing for any reason. This operating procedure identifies the steps to be taken in order to prevent runaways, locate missing child(ren), prevent further incidents and provide needed services.
2. Scope. This operating procedure is applicable statewide to the Department and its designees who work with children under court ordered supervision, in both out of home care and in home care.
3. Explanation of Terms. For purposes of this operating procedure, the
following definitions apply:
a. “Abducted” means that an individual who does not have care and custody of a child under the jurisdiction of a dependency court has taken the child and left the jurisdiction of the court or in some manner is avoiding the supervision ordered by the dependency court.
b. “Absconded” means that an individual who has care and custody of a child under the jurisdiction of a dependency court has taken the child and left the jurisdiction of the court or in some manner is avoiding the supervision ordered by the dependency court.
c. “Child” means any unmarried person under the age of 18 years who has not been emancipated by order of the court.
d. “Department” means the Department of Children and Families unless otherwise specified.
e. “Designee” means a person, contractual provider or other agency or entity named by the Department.
f. “Exigent Circumstances” means situations that require immediate actions, such as the child is under the age of thirteen, believed to be out of the zone of safety for their age and development, mentally incapacitated, in a life threatening situation, in the company of others who could endanger their welfare or is absent under circumstance inconsistent with established behaviors.
g. “Missing Child” means a person who is under the age of 18 years; whose location has not been determined; and who has been or will be reported as missing to a law enforcement agency.
h. “Runaway” means a child who has left a relative placement, non-relative placement, shelter home, foster home, residential group home, any other placement alternative or their in home placement without permission of the caregiver and who is determined to be missing. A child who has run away three or more times for the purposes of this operating procedure is considered a “Habitual Runaway”.
i. “Family Services Counselor” means a professional position responsible for case management for children placements. The term includes Department of Children and Families staff and staff working for an agency named as a designee.
4. Procedure.
a.
General Requirements.
(1) A family services counselor must be alert to changes in the child’s behavior, emotional, and physical status, such as school problems, drug usage, depression, withdrawal and agitation. The family services counselor must be prepared to act quickly when a child runs away or whose location is otherwise undetermined and must know the procedures to report a child as missing. The department or designee must ensure that all caregivers are made aware of how to detect behaviors that may precipitate a child running away, as well as the procedure to follow if a child runs away or is otherwise missing.
(2) Each District/Region Family Safety Office must appoint a Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Missing Children Information Clearinghouse (MCIC)/Local Law Enforcement contact person. The responsibilities of the contact person will include:
(a) To act as a liaison between the District/Region or designee’s staff and FDLE-MCIC/Local Law Enforcement to ensure that all necessary information on each child is obtained.
(b) To review the electronic Missing Child Reporting Form (MCRF) completed by the family services counselor or to complete the electronic MCRF based on the information submitted by the family service counselor to assure completeness and accuracy prior to its transmission to FDLE. The review should focus on the information outlined in paragraph 4c(1) of this operating procedure.
(3) The district/region administrator or designee will initiate a process to identify homes where run away behavior is frequent, assess those homes to determine why children run away and conduct exit interviews in accordance with CFOP 175-61, “Exit Interviews for Children in Shelter/Foster Care.” This includes regular data collection on the number of children who run away, number of children who have had more than two unplanned moves, and the number of licensed homes with more than five children. The number, percentage and conditions disclosed by completed foster child exit interviews to ensure that it is the content of what the children have disclosed in the exit interviews which impacts our placement decisions, not just the percentage of interviews completed. Data analysis will be conducted and needed improvements identified.
(4) The department or its designee will identify and support foster homes and other licensed facilities which have good skills and specific training in providing care for teenagers. The department or its designee will ensure that staff with placement responsibility have all current placement information available to them, including information on licensed homes and facilities that may not be appropriate for runaways.
(5) The department or its designee will ensure that all caregivers are informed of potential warning signs and understand the reporting activities expected when children run away or are determined to be missing.
(6) If age appropriate, immediately upon placement of every child in out of home care, the family services counselor, jointly with the relative or non-relative caregiver, foster parent, or a staff member if placement is in a group home, will inform the child that his/her safety and well-being is a major concern. Children will be informed of their rights and responsibilities as recommended by the statewide teen advisory board (refer to “Know the Facts, Foster Care through the Eyes of the Teen,” 1996 edition, pages 4 and 5). All children will be given the Florida Abuse Hotline number (1‑800‑962‑2873) to call if they have concerns about their safety. In addition, they shall be provided with the name and office number of their family services counselor, their Guardian ad Litem and the District/Region Human Rights Advocacy Committee.
(1) If
exigent circumstances exist, the caregiver will call local law enforcement
as soon as the determination is made that the child is missing and ask the
officer to:
(a) Take a report of the missing child.
(b) Assign a case number and provide the number
back to the caregiver or person reporting the child missing.
(c) Provide a copy of the law enforcement case
report, when it is available.
(d) If the responding law enforcement officer
refuses to take a missing child report, for any reason, the caregiver will
request to speak to the appropriate Watch Commander and document the officer’s
name and specific local law enforcement agency name. If the Watch Commander refuses to take a
missing child report, the caregiver will immediately contact the family
services counselor or on-call staff to report this information. The counselor will report this information to
the FDLE-MCIC contact person who will contact FDLE to request assistance in
obtaining the missing child report.
(e) The caregiver will notify the child’s family
services counselor or emergency on-call staff and share all pertinent information
listed above with emphasis on providing the law enforcement agency name, case
number and if available a copy of the law enforcement report. The family services counselor will follow the
procedures outlined in paragraph 4c of this operating procedure.
(2) If
exigent circumstances do not exist, the caregiver will within the first
hour check to see what, if any, of the child’s personal belongings are missing
or if the child left a note; and,
(a) Call the following persons as appropriate to
ascertain if the child has been seen, or has given any indications that may
explain the child’s missing status:
1. School/child’s teachers and school resource officer;
2. The child’s relatives/parents, both local and non-local, if appropriate and the caregiver has the means for such contact;
3. Any friends or places that the child generally frequents, the local runaway shelter (if there is one in the community); and,
4. The child’s employer, if applicable.
(b) Write down any information gathered that
might help locate the child.
(c) Provide telephone/beeper numbers and ask for the individuals above to call back and share information if they have further information or see the child.
(d) Write down what the child was wearing the
last time the child was seen and obtain a recent photo.
(e) Notify the child’s family services counselor
or emergency on-call staff and share all pertinent information listed above
with emphasis on providing the law enforcement agency name and case number if
available. The family services counselor
will gather the information outlined in paragraph 4c(1) below in preparation
for reporting the child as missing.
(3) If at any time the child returns to the
caregiver home, all law enforcement agencies and other agencies notified that
the child was missing must be contacted immediately. If at any time new information is obtained on the child’s location, all law
enforcement agencies and other agencies notified that the child was missing
must be contacted immediately and appropriate efforts taken to return the child
to the caregivers home.
c.
Family Services Counselor Response.
(1) The family services counselor will attempt to
locate the child by checking with Economic Services, Medicaid, and other
information sources and systems available to the department or its
designee. The following information will
be gathered in preparation for the reporting of a child as a Missing Child:
·
Name and contact numbers of the caseworker
·
The address from where the child is missing
·
The last time the child was visited by the caseworker at that address
·
Name(s) and contact information of any sibling and children of the
missing child
·
If the missing child has a child of their own, whether or not they took
the child with them
·
Name, Date of Birth and Social Security number of any adult known to be
involved
·
If the adult’s address is different from the child’s, the address of
the adult
·
Information obtained from other department information sources
·
Information obtained by the caregiver in their efforts to locate the
child
·
The most recent court order and
or court order indicating custody
·
If available, a current photograph and brief description of the child
·
If available, a finger print card for the missing child
·
A list of any known medical or psychological problems
·
If available, the dental records of the child
·
Any other information that may assist law enforcement in locating the
child
(2) The child’s hard copy case file will be
maintained in the local office in a centralized location and available at all
times for review by local law enforcement and for the provision of updated
information.
(3) The child’s family services
counselor will notify, as applicable, the following persons (if the caregiver
has not already done so) once it has been determined that the child is missing
and share the information identified in paragraph 4c(1):
(a) Local law
enforcement must be notified within four hours in all cases of missing children
whose location is not determined. The
responding officer must be asked to:
1. Take a report of the missing child; and,
2. Assign a case number/case report to record in
the child’s case record and provide the number to the caregiver or person
reporting the child missing.
3. If the responding law enforcement officer
refuses to take a missing child report, for any reason, the family services
counselor will request to speak to the appropriate Watch Commander and document
the officer’s name and specific local law enforcement agency name. If the Watch Commander refuses to take a
missing child report, the counselor will report this information to the
FDLE-MCIC contact person who will contact FDLE to request assistance in
obtaining the missing child report.
(b) The child’s parents, legal custodian,
relatives or foster parent.
(c) His or her immediate supervisor.
(d) The child’s Guardian ad Litem.
(e) The child’s therapist.
(f) Any other person the family services
counselor deems essential.
(4) In addition to notifying local law
enforcement, the process for reporting a missing child is:
(a) The family services counselor must
immediately complete the electronic version of the Missing Child Reporting Form
(MCRF) on the appropriate web site. The
district/region may chose to have the family services counselor complete a hard
copy of the form and to have the FDLE/Local Law Enforcement contact person
input the form on the Webb site.
Completion of the electronic MCRF will initiate notification of the
child as missing to FDLE /MCIC and the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children (NCMEC). All contacts
with FDLE and other follow up actions must be clearly documented in the child’s
HomeSafenet chronological notes.
(b) An original or scanned photo of the child, if
available, must be mailed or e-mailed to the MCIC immediately. A photocopy of the child’s picture is not
acceptable.
(c) If exigent circumstances exist, the MCIC can
be contacted directly to assist in initiating emergency procedures with law
enforcement.
(d) The District/Region FDLE-MCIC contact person
must check the MCIC web page at www.fdle.state.fl.us/missing_children/ within
seven days of the MCRF being sent to MCIC to ensure that the child has been
entered into the missing child database.
If the child is not entered, the contact person must call MCIC at
1-888-356-4774 to find out if there is any additional information needed in
order to have the child placed in the system.
(e) The family services counselor must document
efforts to locate the child in the HomeSafenet chronological notes, explicitly
indicating all contacts made and attempted and initiate an Missing Child Alert
in HSn. Due to the critical need for
timely information, all HomeSafenet information related to a Missing Children
must be input immediately and not to exceed 24 hours.
(5) If the child is residing in another state or
nation the following actions must be taken:
(a) or children placed pursuant to the conditions
of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC), the family
services counselor will immediately contact the social service worker providing
supervision to request their assistance in the reporting of the child as
missing to law enforcement in the jurisdiction where the child was
residing. For children not placed
pursuant to ICPC, the counselor will contact the caregiver with whom the child
was residing and request their assistance in reporting the child as missing.
(b) The family services counselor will contact
any parents and/or relatives who reside locally to see if they have any
information on the location of the child.
This information and the information outlined in e.(1) should be shared
with the social service worker providing supervision or caregiver to assist law
enforcement in the jurisdiction where the child was residing.
(c) When the family services counselor is
notified by the social service worker providing supervision or the caregiver
that the child has been reported as missing, the electronic MCRF will be
completed indicating that the child was residing out of the state of Florida
and has been reported as missing in the jurisdiction where he was located.
(d) The family services counselor will initiate
an Alert in HomeSafenet immediately. All
information and actions taken must be clearly documented in the child’s
HomeSafenet chronological notes.
(e) The family services counselor will notify the
ICPC Office as soon as possible that the child has been reported as missing and
of the efforts to locate the child.
(6)
As soon as possible, the child’s family services counselor shall, with
the assistance of Child Welfare Legal Services, file notice with the court that
the child has been reported as a missing child.
(7)
An Incident Report must be completed as outlined in CFOP 215-6,
“Incident Reporting and Client Risk Prevention”, paragraph 4, Procedures.
(8) The family services counselor will follow
HomeSafenet and ICWSIS instructions for updating and entering specific child
information for children who are on runaway status or whose location has not
been determined into the identified data base(s); e.g., HomeSafenet (HSn),
Interim Child Welfare Services Information System (ICWSIS). A complete data records check will be
conducted immediately by the child’s family services counselor to locate any
service providers that may be active with the child. Should there be an active service provider,
the family services counselor shall contact the service provider immediately
regarding the last time the child was seen and to notify the service provider
the child is missing. District/region
data will be updated monthly by the family services counselor.
(9) The family services counselor will call the
Florida Abuse Hotline at 1-800-541-9724 and ask to file a Request to
Locate. The family services counselor
must ask to speak with a supervisor or staff with clearance to perform the
entry. Family services counselors must
provide their social security number, the district/region, area and unit where
they are employed to the Hotline staff taking the information. The family services counselors will also be
asked for a description of the child, the clothing the child was last seen
wearing, information on any health or safety concerns and whom should be
contacted when the child is located.
This request or alert is canceled automatically after 180 days;
therefore the family services counselor must contact the Hotline every 179 days
until the child is located.
(10)
The child’s family services counselor or caregivers will ensure that
every effort is made to encourage a child to return if they are contacted by
the child who is affected by this operating procedure.
(11) If at any time the child returns to the
caregivers home, all agencies notified that the child was missing must be
contacted immediately. If at any time new information is obtained on the
child’s location, all agencies notified that the child was missing must be
contacted immediately and appropriate efforts taken to return the child to the
caregivers home.
(12) The child’s family services counselor will
offer and arrange safe transportation for the child’s return if the child makes
contacts. If the child is out-of-state
or in another district/region, transportation arrangements with adult traveling
supervision will be made.
d.
Case Management Services While a Child is Missing.
(1) Efforts to locate the child will occur at minimum, weekly for the first three months a child is missing and monthly for every additional month thereafter (for example, contacting the family, legal custodian, relatives, Guardian ad Litem, provider agencies, friends, the Missing Children Information Clearing House, the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children and law enforcement). Contacts must be documented explicitly in the child’s HomeSafenet (HSn) record and in all judicial review reports.
(2) Prior to each judicial review of a child in
out of home care whose location is not determined, the family services
counselor will:
(a) Complete a data systems (HSn, ICWSIS) records
check to locate service providers who may be active with the child.
(b) Contact any provider listed as having been an
active service provider to the child during the dates that the child’s location
was not been determined. Should there be
an active service provider, notify the service provider the child is missing
and document the last time the child was provided a service.
(c) Include in the judicial review reports
specific efforts and results related to locating the child.
(3)
For the period of time that the child remains missing, the Missing Child
Alert initiated in HomeSafenet will be updated and all actions taken to locate
the child documented.
(4)
The family services counselor must interview the child’s caregivers to
determine whether or not the child will be placed with them upon return.
(5) The child’s family services counselor will explore
other placement options in the event the caregivers do not wish for the child
to return or the child expressed a strong aversion to returning to the previous
placement or return to the placement is otherwise determined not to be in the
child’s best interest.
(6)
Each district/region will establish a procedure ensuring that the
HomeSafenet Runaway and Absconded Alert report and the Runaway and Absconded
Exceptions report are being tracked and reviewed on a monthly basis.
(7) If a child becomes eighteen years old while
reported as missing, all agencies notified that the child was missing will be
contacted and notified that the child has become eighteen years old. A copy of the case file will be offered to local
law enforcement for their continuing efforts to locate the missing person.
e. Response to Interventions for Children Who
Return.
(1)
When the child returns, the child must hear and see statements of
concern regarding the child’s safety and well being from the adults who have
significant relations with the child.
(2) Relatives, non-relatives, foster parents and
other caregivers shall be instructed to take care of the child’s immediate
needs upon return, such as food, bathing, medical attention, rest, etc. In cases when children return from runaway
status, appropriate discipline or consequences can be delayed until after the
immediate needs, including psychotherapeutic and behavioral interventions, of
the child are met and the caregiver and the child are ready to calmly discuss
the incident and clarification of behavioral expectations.
(3) When the child is located and/or returned,
the family services counselor shall immediately notify the child’s parents,
legal custodian, relatives, caregivers, the Guardian ad Litem, law enforcement,
the court, the Missing Children Information Clearing House, and the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children, as well as any other agency or
people who were contacted regarding the missing child. Local law enforcement will be notified
through the use of a missing child termination letter (Example attached). FDLE /MCIC and NCMEC will be notified by
updating the electronic MCRF web site.
(4) If age appropriate, the child will be
interviewed privately by the family services counselor within twenty-four hours
of the child’s return to determine the child’s need for further services and/or
change in placement. Additionally, the
family services counselor will work with the child to try to determine the
circumstances surrounding the episode.
In situations where the family services counselor determines the child
ran away, a referral for a mental health evaluation must be made. For the child who is considered a Habitual
Runaway, a referral will be made to the District/Region Behavior Analysis
Services Project for a behavioral review or comprehensive behavioral assessment
by a Certified Behavior Analysts or Certified Associate Behavioral
Analyst. After the review or assessment
the Analyst will provide assistance in the development of an individualized
plan for the prevention of continued run away behavior. Services will be contingent on the capacity
of the Behavior Analysis Services Project.
(5) The family services counselor will consult
with a supervisor and the caregiver to determine the need for a staffing, to
discuss service needs, need for a case plan update, placement changes, etc. for
the child. The staffing should include
caregivers, Child Welfare Legal Staff, clinical staff, the Guardian ad Litem
and teachers, if applicable.
(6)
The child’s family services counselor will ensure that HSn is updated
upon the child’s return to reflect that the child has returned and that the HSn
missing child Alert is end dated.
(7)
The family services counselor will contact the Florida Abuse Hotline at
1-800-541-9724 to have the Request to Locate closed.
(8) Should a child returning from runaway status
express a desire to live with a person or family member who wishes to be
considered as a placement for the child, a home study and background check shall
be conducted to determine if the home is an appropriate option.
(9) The child’s family services counselor will review the child’s case plan each time a child returns and will update the case plan, if necessary, and submit the update to the court (review the case plan to ensure that it includes appropriate services). The plan will include appropriate services and tasks. The caregiver will be included in the case plan update.
(10)
Additional training or consultation to caregivers will be identified and
provided, if necessary, to assist them to provide appropriate care to the child
who has returned.
(11)
All intervention actions taken when a child has returned will be
documented in the HomeSafenet chronological notes.
(Signed
original copy on file)
Jerry Regier
Secretary
SUMMARY OF REVISED, DELETED OR ADDED MATERIAL
This operating procedure has been substantially revised to incorporate the most current procedures for reporting and responding to situations in which children are missing for any reason from their out of home care placements.