MPs are to launch an inquiry into the record number of children missing from care in England.
Ann Coffey, who heads the all-parliamentary group for runaway and missing children and adults, is to invite those working in this area to give their views about the risks faced by children who go missing after being sent miles away from their homes for care.
Coffey also wants to explore how many of these children are then lured into drug gangs as part of the so-called county lines phenomenon.
Data obtained through a parliamentary question by the MP shows an increase of 1,000 children going missing from care homes since 2015, after being moved to new areas often miles from their homes, known as an “out of area placement”.
Numbers have more than doubled from 990 in 2015, to 1,990 in 2018. This compares with a 31% increase for children who go missing from homes within their own borough.
Coffey said: “It shames us all that thousands of vulnerable children continue to be farmed out to live miles and miles away from home despite a government promise to clampdown on numbers.
“Isolated and alone without family, friends or local social workers to help protect them, they become sitting ducks for those who wish to prey on them. They are targeted by paedophiles and drugs gangs and can become trapped in a brutal world.”
Sam Royston, director of policy and research at the Children’s Society, said: “We are deeply concerned that the number of children being placed out of their home area rises year on year and that many of them go missing repeatedly. Going missing is an indicator of risk and a cry for help from children.”
The government introduced measures in 2013 to reduce numbers in cross-boundary placements. But the inquiry notes that despite this 64% of all young people living in children’s homes now live out of borough, up from 46% in 2012.
The Guardian reported last November that experts warned vulnerable children were being “treated like cattle” and moved around care homes in England and Wales, with councils routinely inviting companies to compete for the contracts through an online bidding process.
A Guardian investigation discovered evidence of councils putting the personal details of children in online adverts, including information about previous sexual abuse and gang involvement, while inviting bids from private companies for their care.