Children in care face a uniquely perilous mix of vulnerability and rebellion, placing them at a disproportionate risk of going missing. Louise Allen, artist, author, and advocate for foster children, vividly describes feeling “unwanted, unloved, and uncared for” during her childhood in care, a sentiment that underpins much of the trauma experienced by these young people.
Statistics reveal a disturbing reality: one in ten children in the care system goes missing each year, compared to just one in 200 children raised outside it. In the UK alone, where 75,000 people vanish annually, children make up a significant portion of these cases. While each disappearance is distinct, many children flee due to dissatisfaction or distress with their foster placements.
Louise, now 58 and based in Somerset, recalls her tumultuous upbringing during the 1970s. At just 14, she began trafficking heroin from Oxford to London—a stark survival mechanism amid exploitation by “rockabillies” who preyed on vulnerable children. “We’d carry packages in small army bags with anarchy badges, handing them over for cash before hopping the train back,” she says. The dangers only became real when one girl was sexually abused in front of them, an event that shattered their sense of invincibility.
READ MORE: Disused Farm Transformed into a Thriving Mental Health Haven
READ MORE: South West Farm Business Veg in a Box Warns of Closure Amid Declining Orders
Her story sheds light on widespread grooming and exploitation. In 2020, nearly half of the exploited looked-after children went missing—each vanishing on average more than ten times that year. Over 1,200 care children were identified as trafficking victims, highlighting a grim cycle of disappearance and abuse.
Today, Louise leads a fulfilling life as a mother and foster carer, opening her home to vulnerable children for over a decade. She stresses that without urgent reform and better communication among social agencies, many children will remain at risk. “Children go missing because they don’t feel grounded or loved,” she says, recalling the distress of once being unable to locate a child under her care even through official channels.
Louise emphasizes the value of foster carers who bring empathy, resilience, and life experience—qualities she believes are essential to protecting children. Her own experience was fraught: placed with a family already flagged for abuse, she never felt wanted or safe. Growing up poor and racially different in Oxford, she faced isolation and violence, culminating in a brutal beating that led her to run away at 15, journeying alone to Portsmouth and beginning a long road to survival.
Despite these hardships, Louise found strength in self-education and art, eventually becoming a teacher by 22. But she knows the cycle continues. “Young people are still being groomed and exploited,” she warns. “They run because they don’t feel wanted. Predators know exactly who to target.”
Louise also highlights the abrupt loss of support for young people leaving care—a critical moment when many fall through the cracks. To combat this, she founded Spark Sisterhood, a charity dedicated to mentoring and empowering girls transitioning from the care system, and launched a national recruitment campaign to find committed foster carers.
She notes that children who are neurodivergent or suffer from conditions like ADHD are especially vulnerable, often lacking necessary educational and health care plans. Combined with decreased street-level policing, Louise describes a “perfect storm” creating opportunities for exploitation.
Echoing Louise’s concerns, Victoria Odude, who spent her teenage years in over 15 foster homes, shares her experience of loneliness, instability, and struggle with gangs and substance abuse. Only one caring foster family made a lasting positive impact, illustrating the difference empathy can make.
Both women call for listening to children in care—prioritizing their mental health, valuing their voices, and involving them in decisions about their placements. Their stories highlight the urgent need for a compassionate overhaul of the care system, ensuring vulnerable children no longer feel they must run away to survive.