Return Home Interview
The Department of Education’s 2014 Statutory guidance on children who run away or go missing from home or care states that on every occasion a child goes missing, on their return they should be should be offered an Independent Return Home Interview (IRHI) by someone who is not involved in caring for the child or young person or from the responsible Local Authority itself (unless the child has a strong relationship with a carer or social worker and has expressed a preference to talk to them rather than an independent person). The interview should be conducted within
72 hours of the child returning to their home or care setting.
A Return Home Interview provides an opportunity for a young person to explain the reasons why they went missing. It allows young people to share their feelings with and to discuss how this might be prevented from recurring in the future.
The purpose of the interview is to gather information about the child’s life from a holistic perspective and to identify reasons for them running away or going missing. The interview is an opportunity for children to speak to an independent professional who can provide appropriate follow up with referrals or signposting.
A good Return Home Interview can help to:
- Identify harm
- Help the child feel safe
- Provide them with information on how to stay safe
- Allow professionals to identify actions to help them.
It can also identify possible additional risks such as, potential involvement in criminal activity or drugs, sexual exploitation or trafficking and whether the child has contact with people who pose a risk to children.
A Return Home Interview helps to establish what happened whilst the child was missing and is a fundamental opportunity to engage with a person who may not previously have come into contact with any other professional support – there is no threshold for a Return Home Interview.
Therefore, it is a vital opportunity to identify any previously unknown risk, harm, or exploitation that a child or young person may have experienced or currently be experiencing, and refer them to any additional support services that they may need.
The interview can equip the child with resources and knowledge of how to stay safe if they chose to run away again (including helpline contact numbers) and it reduces the risk of future episodes of missing or running away.
