The missing 13-year-old girl of Maluafou College, Dorothea Young has been found, the Samoa Police Service have announced.

The young girl was reported missing on 24 May, 2020 has been located and reunited safely with her family, the public were advised in a post on the Police Facebook page.

“Samoa Police Service wishes to inform the public that the 13-year-old girl named Dorothea [Young] of Maluafou, who was reported missing on the 24th of May 2020 has been located and reunited safely with her family,” the announcement reads.

“S.P.S. acknowledges the support of the public which led to the successful reunion of this teenager and her family.”

Police Commissioner, Fuiavailiili Egon Keil said children going missing from their homes has a bigger root cause that needs addressing. 

He appealed to parents to look out for their children and pay close attention to their needs.

“The thing now is if we have juveniles running away, most of the times in my experience, these juveniles run away for one reason or another,” he said. “So why is this happening? We have to hit the root problem here to prevent another child from running away."

The Police Commissioner said families should start looking into the circumstances behind their children's disappearance. 

“So we bring them in, and what are we going to do now to make sure this child does not run away again? So it’s a deeper problem than just the child running away," he added. “We eventually find the child like a lot of cases that we have, but how do you keep that child home? So it’s a deeper issue than just running away, and that’s why our families need to be involved and look at what the circumstances are.”

Just last month, a 14-year-old girl, Talaleomalie Lautala of Maagiagi, was also reported missing.

The Police posted her photo and description on Monday afternoon to the law enforcement organisation's social media pages, in a bid to seek information from the public.

She was eventually found days later and reunited safely with her parents and family.