The official term agencies use
DCYF and its federal counterparts call it Missing-from-Care (MFC). It is not the same as a runaway or an abduction. It is a specific designation for a child who cannot be located by their placement provider or the state agency responsible for their care.
Washington State had 23,160 MFC incidents in 2024-2025. Seventy-four percent occurred from group homes.
What happens after a child is located
DCYF has designated MFC locator staff. They find most missing children. What they do not do systematically is document whether placement protocols were followed before the child went missing, whether the unapproved residence they were found at should have triggered a placement change, and whether the same child went missing again within 90 days.
That documentation gap is where GCWAI operates.
The accountability gap
After a child is located, there is no automated system that:
- Logs whether the responding caseworker filed a protocol-compliant incident report
- Tracks repeat MFC incidents for the same child
- Triggers a federal complaint when mandatory notification timelines are missed
GCWAI closes all three gaps. Every incident is logged. Every protocol deviation is flagged. Every federal notification deadline is enforced automatically.