School exclusion, missing children and serious harm: Disentangling the interlinking factors

Child exploitation is linked to severe outcomes including serious harm and death, and contributes to missing child incidents, placing heavy demand on police forces. While prior studies suggest associations between exploitation, missing children, and school exclusion, findings are limited by small samples, lack of statistical testing, and uncertainty regarding the role of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) which is disproportionately present for all three issues. This hampers the development of effective safeguarding interventions and police guidance for prioritising high-risk missing child incidents in the context of resource constraints. This study analyses 193 cases of serious harm to children in England, to examine the intersections of exploitation, exclusion, missing incidents, and SEND, including the reasons why exploited children have been excluded from school. Results show statistically significant associations between exploitation and ‘missing’, and between ‘missing’ and exclusion. Exploitation victims were commonly excluded from school due to behaviour indicative of exploitation. These findings help to clarify key dynamics between exploitation, missing children, school exclusion, and SEND, providing an evidence base to strengthen safeguarding practice and reduce pressures on police from missing child incidents.