England's runaways targeted

LONDON, March 9 (UPI) -- Hundreds of children missing from England's foster and care homes often wind up on Britain's streets, child advocates said.

Many of the children who leave foster and care homes fall victim to sexual abuse and drug addiction, The Independent reported Sunday. Last year, nearly 1,000 foster children went missing, the British newspaper reported.

The charity Missing People said youths living in residential care are three times more likely to run away than those living with their own families. Moreover, they're also vulnerable to abduction by their natural families, or being groomed by pedophiles.

Labor Member of Parliament Helen Southworth, who is leading a parliamentary inquiry into missing young people, said authorities know about missing cars than they do about missing children.

"All figures on children missing from anywhere are estimates because, astonishingly, there is no requirement for data to be recorded or collected nationally," she was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

"Police have a key performance indicator set by the government on vehicle crime, so they allocate resources and collect information. Children are more important than cars, but the DCSF (child services) collects no data on runaway and missing children."