| This toolkit was developed in partnership with Listen Up, a national research and training organisation established to amplify the experiences of Black and racialised children in child protection research, policy and practice. Listen Up is the leading organisation increasing awareness about adultification bias and its implications for child protection.
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Black children and adults are disproportionately likely to go missing: while approximately 4% of the UK population are Black, an estimated 14% of all missing incidents are for Black people.
Research has shown that Black people face significant disparities when they go missing:
The reasons for these disparities are complex and varied: research into the lived experiences of Black missing children and their families found that they will be informed by bias in all public services, including the police and in wider society; by cultural differences and specific risks facing some communities; and by poor trust in policing within communities who have experienced long-term discrimination.
It is vital that every effort is made to reduce the disparities that Black missing people face, and to proactively challenge any discrimination they and their families experience. Whatever role you are in within policing, you can make a real difference: rebuilding trust and ensuring genuine equality for everyone affected by missing. But there is much work to be done. The wide-reaching impacts of discrimination, and the long-term experiences of seeing disparities in the response and care shown for Black missing children and adults will have an enduring effect on people’s trust in the system and response and consequently their sense of safety.
Over recent years we have seen real engagement from police forces and senior leaders in driving improvements in the response for Black missing people, which we are grateful for. That momentum must not be lost, and this toolkit should be used to begin or continue real interrogation of what is happening in your local area, and to start creating change.
“One good officer can change someone’s entire perception of the police”
– Previously missing young person
This toolkit includes resources to help the police to identify and challenge bias in their force’s response to missing Black children, adults and their families, ensuring that people get the support they deserve and need.
We hope the tools will prove useful to forces in working towards a more equitable response.
These tools were created with seven Lived Experience Advisors: young people who had previously been reported missing, and families who have reported a loved one missing; in partnership with the charity Missing People and Listen Up.
As well as lived experience, the tools are based on research, including the Ethnicity of Missing People report, the Experiences of Black Missing Children report, and a report into Experiences of racial discrimination against missing people and their families.
The Advisors generously gave their time and expertise to try and advocate for change. Early in the project we explored their hopes and fears for the project. The fears overwhelmingly related to concerns that ‘nothing would change’:
“Prepared that it might not make a difference”
“We can create a toolkit but expecting those to want to use it is another challenge”
“Wider concerns about whether people are really willing to change”
“I feel ideas are always good in the short-term but when things die out and there’s better ways to use resources, the statistics of [Black people] being missing will no longer be a priority”
We urge any professionals using this toolkit to remember those concerns, and to strive to make real change, and not allow this to fall down the priority list.
The learning from this toolkit shows that genuine change can be achieved in lots of different ways, including:
