Runaways, main cause of 43,000 reports of missing children in 2022

Figures made public on the occasion of the International Day of Missing Children. A total of 43,202 reports of the disappearance of minors were recorded in 2022, the vast majority of them runaways, according to the foundation in charge of the “Missing Children” emergency number, Thursday May 25.

Although the total number of reports is “slightly down” compared to 2021, there are still “one child reported missing every 12 minutes”underlines the Fondation Droit d’Enfance, which makes public these figures from the Ministry of the Interior.

A very large majority – 95% – of the approximately 43,000 reports concern runaways, according to the same source. “The main cause is parent-child conflict, or a refusal to place or go to a care facility for young people under Child Protection”, explains to AFP Julien Landureau, head of advocacy for Children’s Rights. Originally, the influence of a third party – a friend, a boyfriend, a person met on the internet – and a feeling of unease, sometimes linked to harassment or questioning about sexual identity, can come into play.

Runaways on the rise among children under 15

The foundation warns of a worrying rejuvenation of the children concerned. The number of runaways under the age of 15 has indeed increased by 3.6% between 2018 and 2022, to now constitute 37% of reports of runaways.

Social networks play an important role in the incentive to leave. “We are seeing more and more cases of young girls being harpooned in their own homes. Girls aged 11-12 who post videos on the networks where they express that they are bad about themselves or in conflict with their parents. There are people on the lookout who gain their trust”, says Samia Hamonic, educator and case manager at 116,000 Missing Children. Cases of prostitution are proven or suspected in a third of the cases of runaway girls handled by the number.

To the number of runaways are added 544 parental abductions, a figure “probably underestimated”, according to the Children’s Rights Foundation. Some 43% of cases concern international abductions. Finally, the ministry’s data counts 1,140 “disturbing disappearances” in 2022.