Publication
This brief examines the scope and characteristics of youth who go missing from foster care and reviews system responses to prevent and address missing episodes. Drawing on national data and research, it describes pathways into missing episodes (family conflict, child-welfare or juvenile-justice involvement, exploitation risk), summarizes trends and key risk factors of youth missing from care, and emphasizes the need for coordinated, developmentally appropriate responses across child welfare, juvenile and family courts, juvenile justice, and community partners.
An exploratory case study of West Virginia’s approach illustrates evidence-informed strategies and promising practices to strengthen prevention and response. From that example, the authors present a concise policy checklist of essential components for child-locator policies to help system partners prevent youth from going missing and ensure their safe, timely recovery.