Between 01/04/2017 and 31/03/2018 the police recorded 811 missing person cases in Scunthorpe of children aged between 5 and 17 years.

The Tribune Trust are supporting Changing Lives through Changing Minds to run a project in North Lincolnshire in conjunction with Humberside Police. They will provide therapeutic support to children and young people who are repeat missing persons or who are at risk of Child Sexual Exploitation and Child Criminal Exploitation.

They will provide a dedicated service to understand and analyse the reasons for missing incidents. They will then provide therapeutic support to resolve personal issues and reduce the number of incidents. They will provide individual and group therapy and assisted visits with the police to missing children and their families. They aim to support the child and young person and also provide their parents and guardians with the knowledge, skills and strategies to be able to help.

Project staff believe that some children who go missing have attachment and trauma difficulties which impact on their confidence, sense of belonging and esteem. They gravitate towards individuals or groups to get their needs met, often engaging in crime, anti-social behaviour, drugs and alcohol misuse.

The project will use horses to provide an accelerated method of learning and a non-judgemental approach to risk.

The High Sheriff of Lincolnshire, Ian Walter is shown presenting a cheque to the Service Manager, Jo Wagstaff, who is supported by staff and horses from the project.