Records & plans
What is a return home interview?
A return home interview is an independent conversation with a child after they have been missing, to find out why they went, what happened while they were away, and what would help.
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<img src="https://careoptix.co.uk/glossary/return-home-interview/diagram.svg" alt="return home interview — diagram from CareOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
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<a href="https://careoptix.co.uk/glossary/return-home-interview">What is a return home interview?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://careoptix.co.uk">CareOptix</a>
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</figure>It is the single most valuable safeguarding opportunity around missing episodes, and it is the one most often reduced to a form. Exploitation is frequently first identified here.
Independence matters: a child is more likely to tell someone outside the home about something that happened, particularly if it relates to the home itself.
Push and pull factors are the substance — what made them leave and what drew them somewhere else. Both need acting on in the plan rather than recording.
What goes wrong in practice
- Conducted by staff from the home rather than independently.
- Treated as a form to complete rather than a conversation to have.
- Factors identified and never reflected in the placement plan.