MARKET RESEARCH ONLY - Return Home Interviews when missing from care and home

Rotherham’s Children’s Services have developed a Missing from care team. As such children that go missing benefit from more timely and good quality return home interviews when missing from care or home.
As part of ongoing developments we are looking for a provider to support Rotherham to meet demand and provide appropriate timescales for return home interviews to be undertaken. Legislation states that when children go missing from care and home an appropriately focused interview should take place within 72 hours. As a minimum an interview should be offered.
A return home interview should consist of an in-depth conversation by a trained professional following an episode of missing. It aims to establish the reason for the young person to run away and what experiences they have encountered whilst being away from care, or home. It is also hoped that the discussion will support the reasons for missing and the best way forward to resolve such reason.
Return home interviews can lead to the identification of abuse, neglect or exploitation therefore Rotherham expects focused, good quality interviews to be undertaken. Rotherham would support any provider in escalation procedures should an officer have concerns that need to be raised immediately.
We are looking for a provider to undertake a number of return home interviews to support Rotherham in meeting statutory deadlines. Rotherham would be seeking to award the contract to an agency that could provide return home interviews within the expected 72 hours. We anticipate around 20 interviews per months to be conducted by the agency. Rotherham have young people placed nationally, for example; Lancashire, Stansted, Norfolk and Cumbria. We are specifically looking for an agency to complete interviews that are 60 miles + from Rotherham.
Please note that this is a market research exercise to understand market conditions and whether providers would be able to meet our demands as outlined above.
More information about Missing from home interviews is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-who-run-away-or-go-missing-from-home-or-care