UNCOLLECTED AND MISSING CHILDREN POLICY Cluster

Uncollected and Missing Children Policy – 20 October 2022 LC, 14 November 2022 FGB

UNCOLLECTED AND MISSING CHILDREN

POLICY

Cluster:

Gracelands Nursery School

Jakeman Nursery School

Local Committee Approved: 20 October 2022

Full Governing Body Approved: 14 November 2022

Date Policy Adopted: 20 October 2022

Date for next renewal: Autumn Term 2024

Chair of Governors: Sean Delaney

Executive Head Teacher: Samantha Richards

 
 
2 
Uncollected and Missing Children Policy – 20 October 2022 LC, 14 November 2022 FGB 
Contents 
Rationale ......................................................................................................................................... 2 
Aims................................................................................................................................................. 2 
Rights Respecting School ................................................................................................................ 2 
Process ............................................................................................................................................ 3 
Admission Form Information .......................................................................................................... 3 
Procedures for uncollected children ............................................................................................... 3 
Procedures after CASS are contacted ............................................................................................. 4 
Safety measures .............................................................................................................................. 5 
Missing Child Procedures ................................................................................................................ 6 
APPENDIX A ..................................................................................................................................... 7 
APPENDIX B ..................................................................................................................................... 8 
APPENDIX C ..................................................................................................................................... 9 
 
Rationale 
From time to time parents or carers may have difficulties in arriving at the end of the session 
to collect their children. This may happen for a variety of reasons and in isolated incidents, 
the nursery will always attempt to contact parents and care for the child until the parent can 
collect him/her. However, in the event that a parent may not be contacted, or when a child is 
repeatedly uncollected, the nursery must have procedures in place to support the child and 
parents. 
Aims 
• To ensure that a child is cared for appropriately in the event that no authorised adult is 
available to collect him/ her. 
• To identify clearly for staff, parents and governors the procedures that will be followed in 
the event that a child is not collected. 
• To share procedures with adults, parents and carers 
Rights Respecting School 
This policy is in accordance with the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the 
Child (UNCRC). 
Article 7 – Every child has the right to be registered at birth, to have a name and nationality, 
and, as far as possible, to know and be cared for by their parents. 
Article 9 - Children must not be separated from their parents against their will unless it is in 
their best interest. 

Uncollected and Missing Children Policy – 20 October 2022 LC, 14 November 2022 FGB

Article 11 - Governments must do everything they can to stop children being taken out of

their own country illegally by their parents or other relatives, or being prevented from

returning home.

Process

This process has been endorsed by Directorate for People Children’s Social Care, the Police

and Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board.

In the event that a child is not collected by an authorised adult, we will ensure that the child

receives a high standard of care in order to cause as little distress as possible.

We inform parents/ carers of our procedures so that, if they are unavoidably delayed, they

will be reassured that their child will be properly cared for.

Admission Form Information

Parents of children at the setting are asked to provide specific information which is recorded

on our Admissions Form, including:

• Home address and telephone number

• Place of work and telephone number (if applicable)

• Mobile telephone number

• Names, addresses and telephone numbers of adults (minimum two additional to parents/

carers) who are authorised by parents to collect their child, for example grandparent or

childminder

• Information about any person who does not have legal access to the child

• Who has parental responsibility for the child

• Any change of contact details

Parents/ carers’ contact details are checked each term and parents/ carers are asked to notify

us immediately of any changes to these details.

Jakeman and Gracelands Nursery Schools will make it clear to parents/ carers in writing the

normal finish times for the school/ activity or the arrangements for children to be collected

at the end of the school day/ activity. Any changes will be notified to parents/ carers in

writing. This will include notification of any additional financial charge for top-up sessions.

Procedures for uncollected children

Parents should be aware that only adults of 18 years and over are allowed to collect children.

In the event that a child is not collected at the end of the session we follow the set of

procedures listed below:

• We will contact the parent/ carer by telephone if parent is more than 15 minutes late

Uncollected and Missing Children Policy – 20 October 2022 LC, 14 November 2022 FGB

• If unable to contact parent/ carer, we will contact the named people who are authorised to

collect the child

• If contact cannot be made with parent/ carer or unauthorised person at the first attempt,

we will continue to call up to one hour after the agreed collection time

• Where known, we will also contact other settings that siblings attend to see if they are

experiencing the same problem

• If the child has not been collected and it has not been possible to contact a parent or named

carer, 1 hour after the agreed finish time for the school day/ activity a phone call will be

made to the Children’s Advice and Support Service (CASS) on 0121 303 1888. CASS will act

in a coordinating role in the first instance

• If the child has an allocated social worker, the school will contact the social worker or the

allocated team manager via Children’s Information and Advice Service (CIAS) (303 1888

option 2) instead of contacting the CASS

• The school will organise a rota to allow at least two staff to stay until responsibility for the

child is handed over

• The DSL will maintain a record of incidents where parents do not collect a child from school

or other activities. Any child welfare concerns arising out of such an incident(s) will be dealt

with in accordance with the child safeguarding procedures of the school

Note that the CIAS switchboards close at 5.15pm (4.15pm Friday) after which the

Emergency Duty Team must be contacted.

The contact details for CIAS and the Emergency Duty Team are as follows:

Children’s Information and Advice Service- Tel No 0121 303 1888

Emergency Duty Team- Tel No 0121 464 9001

Procedures after CASS are contacted

1) CASS will give advice and may carry out appropriate checks and make further attempts to

contact the parent/ carer. If there are any concerns about the welfare of the parent/ carer,

CASS will, on a case by case basis ask the local police to visit the home address.

2) If an appropriate relative or carer is located, s/he will be asked to collect the child from the

school. If there is a genuine reason for the relative or carer being unable to do this, CASS will

liaise with school about possible arrangements for the child to be taken to the address though

this will occur only under exceptional circumstances.

3) In making decisions, Social Care Services and the school will prioritise interim care

arrangements that best meet the child’s personal and emotional needs.

Uncollected and Missing Children Policy – 20 October 2022 LC, 14 November 2022 FGB

4) If the combined attempts to contact a parent or appropriate carer by the School or CASS

remain unsuccessful 1½ hours after the normal end of the school day/ activity, Social Care

Services will normally make a decision to assume care of the child and arrange for him/ her

to be taken to a place of safety.

a) For children with health care requirements it is expected that the health care plan will

include a risk assessment and plan to meet the needs of a child not picked up or dropped off

at home by home-to-school transport.

5) CASS will confirm the arrangements with the school and with those caring for the child at

that time, before the CASS closes and also hand this information over to the EDT team. The

Emergency Duty Team will continue to liaise with the school as appropriate until an

appropriate placement is identified.

6) Plans for transporting the child will take into account staff availability out of hours, the

need for adequate insurance cover, appropriate gender balance, in car safety, and any

information about special needs or behavioural difficulties etc. provided by the school/

organisation. Where possible, two adults should be present. If there is a shortage of staff,

or adequate arrangements a mini cab could be used with a suitable escort.

7) The school will send a letter to the parent/ carer notifying them of the incident and of the

arrangements that were made to care for the child. Concerns about the child’s welfare –

Appendix A.

8) The Executive Head Teacher / Member of the Senior Leadership Team should meet with

the parent on the next working day and outline the actions that the school had to take and

why. This will include informing the parent of any arising financial issues and agreeing a

payment plan.

9) Where more than one incident occurs, repeated episodes on late collection with

notification or where there are reasons for concern regarding the ability of parent(s)/

carer(s) to collect their child, the Executive Head Teacher / Member of the Senior

Leadership Team will:

a) Initiate a discussion between the school and the parent to identify a strategy for

addressing these concerns.

b) Where agreement cannot be reached with parents or in cases where there are child

protection concerns, a referral to CASS will be completed and Social Care Services

will be invited to contribute to identifying the strategy for addressing the concerns

and safeguarding the child.

Safety measures

All children attending Jakeman or Gracelands Nursery Schools must complete the relevant

documentation when requesting absence for a holiday or trip abroad - Appendix B and C.

Uncollected and Missing Children Policy – 20 October 2022 LC, 14 November 2022 FGB

In addition to the above, to ensure the continuous safety and security of all children within

our organisation we undertake to do the following:

• Ensure that all gates and entry/ exit doors are fitted with appropriate locks/ handles and/

or security devices placed at such a height as to ensure that children do not have

unauthorised access, in order to ensure that children do not leave the premises

unsupervised, and intruders are unable to gain access

• Request all visitors provide appropriate identification and state the reason for their visit

prior to admittance. We record the name of each visitor and their company details or reason

for visiting us on our visitor sheet. Visitors will also be issued with an identification pass and

a visitor lanyard

• All children are to be signed into and out of the nursery schools through registration carried

out by key workers. The time of arrival and collection is also recorded in the late book if

different to usual school hours.

Missing Child Procedures

In the event of a missing child, the following procedures will apply:

• The police will be called immediately

• A thorough search of the area the child was last seen in will be conducted.

• All staff present at the time of the incident or when the child was last seen will be contacted

to gain all relevant information

• Attempts will be made to contact the parent/carer (as advised by the police)

• Any available CCTV footage will be examined

• A safeguarding incident report will be completed

• We will inform OfSTED on 0300 123 1231

• We contact the Children’s Advice and Support Service (CASS) 0121 303 1888 or, in the event

of a concern out of hours, we contact the emergency duty team on 0121 464 9001. This

policy will be reviewed on a two yearly basis and whenever significant changes to the

systems and arrangements take place.

Uncollected and Missing Children Policy – 20 October 2022 LC, 14 November 2022 FGB

APPENDIX A

Date

Dear ___

Late collection

On…..…………………(day and date), your child(ren) …………………… were not

collected/ received at the end of the school day, and we were unable to contact you

or your named carer(s). As a result, in order to safeguard and promote the welfare of

your child(ren), we implemented the ‘procedure for dealing with children not

collected/received at the end of the school day’.

This procedure, which has been agreed by our school, Children’s Social Care

Services, the Police and the Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board, involved us

contacting Social Care Services in order that arrangements could be made to ensure

your child was safe.

I hope that the reasons for your child not being collected are not serious. It is

important that this situation does not arise again. Therefore please come to school

on ________________, at __________ to meet with _____________.

If you wish to find out what action was taken by Children’s Social Care you can

contact them on 0121 303 1888 for further information.

Yours sincerely

Samantha Richards

Executive Head teacher

Uncollected and Missing Children Policy – 20 October 2022 LC, 14 November 2022 FGB

APPENDIX B

CHILDREN GOING ON HOLIDAY REQUEST

Name of Child: Date of Birth:

Name of Parent/s / Carer/s:

Current Address:

Telephone Number/s:

Date holiday commences: Date of planned return to school:

Holiday Destination:

Address:

Contact Number Whilst Away:

Other Relevant Information:

Printed Name of Parent/s or Carer/s:

Signature of Parent/s or Carer/s:

Signed Office Admin – All information entered onto the MIS system?

More than 2 weeks – Inform the EY Service Duty Manager – 0121 675 4996/ 1943

to obtain a missing child form.

Date of Call: Name of Officer:

Advice Given:

Signed DSL:

Uncollected and Missing Children Policy – 20 October 2022 LC, 14 November 2022 FGB

APPENDIX C

CHILDREN LEAVING TO GO ABROAD REQUEST

Name of Child: Date of Birth:

Name of Parent/s or Carer/s:

Current Address:

Telephone Number/s:

Date Started Nursery: Proposed Leaving Date:

Future Address:

Telephone Number:

Intention for Future Education:

Name and Address of Future School:

Email Address:

Evidence:

Contact with School:

Flight Tickets Seen:

Other:

Printed Name of Parent/s or Carer/s:

Signature of Parent/s or Carer/s:

Admin Team Signature – all information added to MIS system?

Signature of DSL:

More than 2 weeks – Inform the EY Service Duty Manager – 0121 675 4996/ 1943

to obtain a missing child form

Date of Call: Name of Officer:

Advice Given:

Signed DSL: