Every month hundreds of children are reported missing in Kent with police appeals, missing posters and desperate posts on social media.

Teens often disappear for days at a time only to return and run away all over again a week later to the torment of their loved ones. But why are so many children going missing and what can be done about it? Reporter Davina Jethwa investigates.

Between January 2024 and January this year, Kent Police received a total of 3,717 missing children reports, according to data released to KentOnline under a freedom of information request.

In July it reached a high of 366 cases, a 65% increase on six months prior.

Further figures show over the last three years, seven in 10 missing persons are under 18.

But the story behind the statistics is complex and there often isn’t one single reason why a child has left home.

Going missing is a situation emergency first responder Jade Knight knows all too well.

Originally from Herne Bay, the 22-year-old ran away more than 50 times in her teens as she struggled to navigate health issues with a then-undiagnosed condition.

As a result, the pressures of her parents trying to help when they couldn’t led to a breakdown of their relationship and she soon became “addicted” to leaving home.

And she, says it can take just one trigger to tip a child over the edge and decide to go missing.

Jade told KentOnline: “Imagine you're a vulnerable young adult, you're 16, you're going through an extremely difficult time.

“You've got family issues going on, you've got the stress of school, your friends are falling out, you might be dealing with anxiety or depression or a physical health condition.

“Then one day after school you get detention and it's just a nail on the head so you go missing for the first ever time.”

All the while, parents are left back at home pacing back and forth desperately calling their child over and over again, wondering why they haven’t returned, what happened, where they are and feeling completely and utterly petrified for their safety.

Jade, who now works closely with charity Missing People and guides other troubled young people, says she has experienced the situation she often left her own mum and dad in when one of her mentees went missing.

She said: “I think you feel powerless - I did everything I could and it just wasn’t enough.

“I think it's very easy to start putting the blame on yourself, but it's not and it's not the individual's fault, it's just a really tough time.”

Police missing persons lead Detective Superintendent Nicola Ross says cases reported – whether over the phone or online – all begin in their force control room.

She said: “That initial information would be assessed for any potential threat to the person, the risk they might be at, and that’s all done on an individual basis taking into account their age and any vulnerabilities they may have.

“That would include having a conversation with the person who had reported them missing to find out the history, how long they've been missing, have they done this before, what are their vulnerabilities, to create a holistic picture to be able to assess the risk and identify lines of inquiry which will assist us to locate them as quickly as possible and hopefully safe and well.”

What also seems to be a growing issue is the number of repeat cases.

On average people go missing about three times, not once, explains Jade.

She adds: “Everyone thinks it's running away but it's not, going missing is a communication.

“That young person is telling you something is wrong.

Everyone thinks it's running away but it's not, going missing is a communication.That young person is telling you something is wrong.

“In my experience, it is looking for signs of secrecy – I used to lie constantly, especially surrounding things like drugs and alcohol and things I shouldn't have been doing at 15.

“It’s also the avoiding and money disappearing.

“One thing my parents noticed I was doing when I was using my money in ways I shouldn’t have been was I would ask for money for lunch and then I would come home straight after school and eat the cupboards bare – that is really common.”

Other signs are naming different friends they are hanging out with every night because they are actually with the same person and not being honest with the addresses they are going to.

“It’s just a shift in personality – I went from being loud, bubbly and talkative to quite reserved and secretive which obviously is a massive red flag,” she says.

But, if a child does go missing, it’s also important to address how a repeat incident can be prevented early on.

After a young person returns or is located, they should be subject to a return home interview.

In a safe space, they will be asked if they had a shower while gone, if they met anyone, and if anything in particular happened during the experience.

Jade said: “This is a big should, return home interviews should happen but statistically, it's not.”

“If we're able to identify what led them to go missing, why they went missing and what happened when they were missing, we can kind of take a picture of this young person and from that be able to assess if they need mental health support, physical health support or social services.

“Before you know it you have safeguarded that young adult from possibly more harm, but these are regularly being missed.”

These are due to a lack of resources, training and funding.

Interviews are important because they can also identify illegal encounters that may have occurred during that unaccounted-for time - including county line issues which are becoming an increasing problem in missing cases.

A London council welfare officer from Medway, Michelle Sawyer says gangs routinely prey on vulnerable children.

She said: “What happens - and obviously I can't speak for each individual case - but quite often they'll be recruited along the lines of thinking they are just being befriended.

“They might be given a gift of a mobile phone or new trainers and think they're part of this little network of new friends, but it's a gang and what they thought were gifts, the person will then say, ‘Oh, you owe me X amount you've got to repay this’.

“They’ll send them out selling drugs to repay it but then they get jumped and the drugs stolen.

“So then they're in more debt - they call it debt bondage.”

Often when people try and escape the cycle, gangs ask their victims for things they know they can’t give them, entrapping them in the cycle.

It’s something Jade never ended up involved with herself but did witness firsthand.

The Maidstone resident said: “I ended up meeting a guy from London one of the times I had been reported [missing] and it turned out that’s what he did - he sold drugs and then he was trying to get me into it.

“When you’re missing you don’t need money because you don’t have anywhere to go so for example he had paid for a hotel.

“To me at the time as a 15-year-old who was missing on my own and who didn’t live in London, I was obviously going to take up that opportunity to go somewhere I thought was safe for the night.”

But, luckily she was able to get out of being involved, but often people are not so lucky.

“I was very aware of it and knew other people doing it from Kent to London.

“It was so easy to get into it – it was awful.

“They try and big it all up and get you into it and then you’re only really going to leave if you are dead,” said Jade.

If you are worried about the welfare of a child Missing People’s SafeCall service is here to help.

The helpline offers confidential support and a safe space to discuss worries and any risks they may be facing, as well as emotional support.

It is open seven days a week from 9am to 11pm.

There isn't an answer to this problem at the moment

Jade said: “I think going forward, as a community we need to be speaking about all of this.

“There's a lot of stigma around going missing but just talk about it because the more we do, it will no longer be so much of a hard conversation to have.

“There isn't an answer to this problem at the moment, as much as we all wish there was so it's kind of just working to be the best of our abilities call to the government that this is a problem.

“It needs some more funding because young people's lives are being changed and ended almost in the same.

“They are coming into the system, they're not being supported and now they're leaving and these young adults are leading on to being criminalised.

“That shouldn't be happening.”