SA Child Protection Department workers lodge 7000 missing child reports in a year

Young children and teenagers are being reported missing from state care 19 times a day. Here’s why they’re running away.

A child in state care who was reported missing almost every other day for a year is among a core group of repeat runaways, The Advertiser can reveal.

Children and teenagers are breaching curfew, running home to parents and siblings or absconding to be in relationships with adults.

The number of children running away has remained relatively steady in recent years, although the number of times they flee has been falling.

Figures released exclusively to The Advertiser reveal 7005 missing reports were made to police last financial year - or an average of 19 a day - involving 450 young people.

A core group of 26 runaways accounted for a third of the reports to police, including one child flagged 165 times in 12 months.

The vast majority are understood to be living in state-run homes with paid carers, rather than with foster parents or extended family.

The Reily Foundation CEO Nadia Bergineti. Picture Dean Martin

There are about 4870 children living in state care, including about 710 in state-run homes.

Child protection staff are required to report a child missing if they leave without permission or fail to return at the expected time, even if workers know where they are.

Missing reports peaked around 10,500 in 2021-22 - or 28 a day - and have been falling since.

In 2022-23 there were 7430 reports lodged - or 20 a day - involving 437 children.

The Reily Foundation chief executive officer Nadia Bergineti, who works with parents who have had their children taken into state care, said she often heard of young people running back home.

“We’re talking about kids who have been taken from their parents and put in a place where they can’t even just have a hug (from the carers),” she said.

“These are very traumatised children who haven’t received the support they need. They’ve gone through a lot. I can understand why kids wouldn’t want to be in that situation.”

Child Protection Minister Katrine Hildyard. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

Child Protection Minister Katrine Hildyard said most children reported missing were returned “within hours”.

A partnership between the department and SA Police, known as the Blue Rose Project, was helping to curb runaways, she said.

Launched in the Barossa and Gawler in 2021, social workers and officers involved in the project were “helping children and young people to know that there are people there for them and that they can create a sense of home in their placement,” Ms Hildyard said.

“Young people in care have experienced trauma and face really complex issues. Living away from their birth families can be difficult.”

The department employs a lead psychiatric director and 10 allied health staff who work with young people who repeatedly flee, and has spent $600,000 on training for staff.