Thirteen-year-old went missing from care home after being placed more than 70 miles away from borough

A 13-year-old girl went missing from her care placement and was located with her sister nine days later in the house of a stranger later convicted of raping her, a safeguarding review has found.

The girl, known as ‘Alpha’, was one of several siblings known to social care due to a history of physical abuse and neglect. She was placed in foster care from the age of six, alongside a sister close in age. 

But between 2021 and 2023, her foster placement ‘broke down’ and Alpha experienced a period of ‘significant instability’ – pinballing between nine different placements in a 25-month period, with some lasting only a month. 

In that time she was separated from her sister and eventually landed in a residential setting more than 70 miles away from her home area. 

Alpha then went missing in September 2023 with another 12-year-old young person from the same children’s home. Police located Alpha and her sister in a man’s house in Oldham nine days later – where Alpha said she’d ‘had sex with multiple men and been taking drugs’. 

Information also came to light through Alpha’s sister that Alpha and their older sisters had all been trafficked by their father to various men since they were younger and had experienced significant sexual abuse when they lived with their parents.

Oldham Safeguarding Children Partnership ordered a review of the complex safeguarding case immediately after the incident, but this was delayed until 2024 due to difficulties finding an author and only published recently. 

The report praised ‘numerous examples of good practice’ by professionals in charge of Alpha’s care. But it also found ‘a direct correlation between the impact of separation from her family, her unhappiness and how these push-pull factors increased her exposure to risk and harm’.

Separating Alpha from her sister ‘proved to be a significant loss and created additional trauma’ for the teenager, the report found, increasing her alienation from her new community. 

More emphasis could also have been placed on her cultural heritage, with Alpha telling the authors of the review she felt she had to ‘adapt’ to an unknown culture which was ‘alien’ to her and that professionals in her care team did not understand what was ‘normal’ to her. 

Speaking on behalf of the Oldham Safeguarding Children Partnership, Councillor Shaid Mushtaq, Oldham Council’s Cabinet Member for Children and Young People said: “This was a deeply distressing case, and my thoughts are first and foremost with Alpha and her siblings. 

“No child should ever have to experience what they went through, and as a council we are truly sorry for the pain and trauma they have suffered.
“The safeguarding reviews make it clear that while there were professionals who showed real dedication and care, there were also areas where we should have done better. We have taken these findings extremely seriously and acted on the learning points identified.

“Since these tragic incidents which took place several years ago, we have made significant changes to strengthen our safeguarding work. 

“That includes earlier identification of risk, better coordination between agencies, and a renewed focus on making sure that every child’s voice is heard, understood and acted upon. 

“We have also invested in staff training around cultural awareness and trauma-informed practice, to ensure that decisions fully reflect each child’s individual background and needs.”