The third Missing Black Children conference organised by Manhood Academy Global took place in Wandsworth on March 21st following events in Brent and Haringey. The conference revealed that inspite of being just 20% of the population, Afrikan young people account for over half of missing child cases, which is actually worse than the national average. (1)
Research by the organisations Listen Up and Missing People indicates that Afrikan children are more likely to go missing due to:
“Entrenched issues in the home, in school, and in the perceptions that society holds of them. There were few examples of effective prevention, and little faith in the support that is currently provided, sometimes due to long-held feelings of mistrust in services and experiences of Black people.” (2)
Another factor is neurodiversity, where the “brain processes information, learns, and acts differently from typical patterns.” Neurodiversity can cover ADHD, autism, dyslexia, or other learning or developmental differences. (3) Such conditions can present as challenging behaviour but are less likely to be diagnosed in Afrikan children and even when diagnosed done so without appropriate support. (4) Consequently, once the system kicks in (e.g. school to prison pipeline, adultification, marginalisation) we end up with half the prison population being neurodivergent, much of it previously undiagnosed. (5)
These issues are particularly pertinent to the conference guest host Bro. Jahran Allen-Thompson MBE. Diagnosed with dyslexia as a child he overcame numerous challenges to achieve professional success. For example, when head of the London Borough of Waltham Forest Mortuary he increased the income by a staggering 3,750 percent. He is currently a consultant and honorary university lecturer working at the intersection of criminal justice, innovation and systems leadership. (6)
One wonders hown differently things would have gone for Bro. Jahran without that early diagnosis and what we have to assume are other levels of support. Yet his story highlights the potential of our children that we are being deprived of due to lack of support. For example, The Made by Dyslexia Report, in conjunction with Randstad Enterprise, suggests “that dyslexics could contribute up to £98.2 billion to the UK economy and the underutilisation of dyslexics is costing the country billions in lost innovation and growth.” (7)
Within the context of a country getting yet more hateful, the liklihood of more resources allocated to support our young people seems remote. The responsibility then lies with the community, starting with resurrecting ‘the village,’ for as the Afrikan proverb states:
“If the children are not initiated into the village they will burn it down just to see it’s warmth.”
A functioning village would prevent its children from going missing and would utilise different abilities from all sections, from the grassroots to the so-called professional class, for the collective good.
(1) Listen Up and Missing People (2024) “We’re told not to make everything about race, but it is about race.” The experiences of Black missing children and their parents. https://www.missingpeople.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Final_Experiences-of-Black-missing-children-Voices-report.pdf. p. 2; Wandsworth LA (2023) Children’s Services Locality Profile. https://www.datawand.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Wandsworth-Childrens-Services-Cluster-Profile-May-2023-Public.pdf. p. 10.
(2) Listen Up and Missing People. Op. cit.
(3) Ariane Resnick (19/11/25) What Does It Mean to Be Neurodivergent? https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-neurodivergence-and-what-does-it-mean-to-be-neurodivergent-5196627
(4) Barnardos (2023) Double discrimination: Black care-experienced young adults navigating the criminal justice system. https://yjlc.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/2023-11/Double%20Discrimination%20-%20Black%20care-experienced%20young%20adults%20navigating%20the%20criminal%20justice%20system%20report.pdf. p. 12, 23.
(5) Chelley Ryan (07/11/24) A Radical Path to Unity: How Empathy Can Challenge Hate. https://turningthetideblog.wordpress.com/author/chelleryn/
(6) Jahran Allen-Thompson MBE (20/02/25) Life in Focus: Jahran Allen-Thompson MBE – Breaking Barriers & Building Futures. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac0YH87s4XQ
(7) APPG for Dyslexia (2026) The case for a National Dyslexia StrategyBecause dyslexia matters. https://cdn.bdadyslexia.org.uk/uploads/images/2026-Draft-National-Dyslexia-Strategy_Spreads.pdf?v=1773527369
(8) Alex/Rose Cocker (04/03/26) White supremacy: majority of Reform members want non-white people to leave Britain. https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2026/03/04/reform-white-supremacy/
How do we resurrect the Village?
1) Why do so many of our children go missing?
2) How do we “initiate our children into the village”?
3) How can we best support those with neurodiversity?
4) How do we get different sections of the community to work together?
Our Special Guests:
Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and an Afrikan-Centred Education Consultant. Bro. Ldr is a veteran activist of over 40 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwind newspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An African-Centred Approach To Excellence.
Bro. Jahran Allen-Thompson MBE: is a UK-based operational leader, consultant and honorary university lecturer working at the intersection of criminal justice, innovation and systems leadership.
Beginning his career in frontline mortuary services, he progressed into senior leadership within London local government, where he has led major service transformation programmes focused on resilience, public safety and the modernisation of Post Mortem processes . His work has included the development of new approaches to operational delivery, financial sustainability and the integration of emerging technologies into complex public-sector environments.
Alongside his public-sector leadership experience, Jahran lectures and contributes to professional discussions on critical incident management, neurodiversity in leadership, and the future design of safeguarding and healthcare systems. He is particularly interested in how different ways of thinking — including dyslexic and neurodivergent perspectives — can drive innovation and improve outcomes in high-pressure institutional settings.
Through his consultancy and public speaking, he supports organisations internationally to think differently about crisis preparedness, organisational performance and inclusive leadership. His wider work focuses on building stronger systems that better protect vulnerable communities while enabling future generations to contribute meaningfully to society.
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