It truly is every parent’s nightmare – your child has gone missing and you are gripped with a sense of terror, not knowing what to do first.
A staggering 460,000 children are reported missing in the United States each year according to the FBI. While many are quickly found, there are some that never come home.
Wednesday marks National Missing Children's Day, a commemoration that began in 1983 as a way to honor those who search for missing children and to raise awareness of those children who have not yet been found.
Should you ever find yourself in that position, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children offers these tips for what to do when you realize your child is missing.
The first three things
1. Immediately call your local law enforcement agency.
2. After you have reported your child missing to law enforcement, call the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).
3. Notify the store manager or security office if your child cannot be found when in a store. Then immediately call your local law enforcement agency. Many stores have a Code Adam plan of action in place. A “code Adam” – named in memory of Adam Walsh who was kidnapped from a store in Florida in 1981 and later found dead – will alert employees that a child is missing in the store. The plan calls for certain employees to immediately stop working, look for the child and monitor front entrances to ensure the child does not leave the premises.
What do you need to do when you call law enforcement?
According to the NCMEC, you should provide law enforcement with your child’s name, date of birth, height, weight and descriptions of any other unique identifiers such as eyeglasses and braces. Tell them when you noticed your child was missing and what clothing he or she was wearing.
Request law enforcement authorities immediately enter your child’s name and identifying information into the FBI’s National Crime Information Center Missing Person File.
What can the NCMEC do?
The NCMEC will take information about your child and assign a management team to work with you and the law enforcement agency investigating your case. According to their website, they can:
- Rapidly create and disseminate posters to help generate leads.
- Rapidly review, analyze and disseminate leads received on 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) to the investigating law enforcement agency.
- Communicate with federal agencies to provide services to assist in the location and recovery of missing children.
- Provide peer support, resources and empowerment from trained volunteers who have experienced a missing child incident in their own family.
- Provide families with access to referrals they may use to help process any emotional or counseling needs.
The following is a few tips from a checklist provided by the NCMEC that gives parents a list of things to do if their child should go missing. Click here for the complete checklist.
- Contact your local law-enforcement agency as soon as you have determined your child is missing or has been abducted. Do not delay in reporting your child missing to law enforcement.
- Search any area into which a child could crawl or hide and possibly be asleep or unable to get out. This includes closets, piles of laundry, in and under beds, inside large appliances, in vehicles including trunks, or any other space into which a child might fit. Check areas where your child was last seen or may have played such as open or abandoned wells, caves, sheds, buildings, and crawl spaces.
- Provide law enforcement with the date, time, and location where your child was last seen, if known.
- Provide law enforcement with the name(s) of the last person/people who saw your child, if known.
- Determine the names or descriptions of companions or associates last seen with your child.
- Secure your child's room and personal belongings until law enforcement has the opportunity to conduct a search.
- Identify and secure any computers and wireless devices used by your child, but do not attempt to conduct a search of these devices on your own. Ask law enforcement to look for clues in any chat and social-networking websites your child has visited or hosts.
- Provide law enforcement with information about your child's general health and any medical conditions or concerns.
- Compile descriptive information about your child and have the information available to provide to the first-responding, law-enforcement investigator. Descriptive information should include items and information such as a recent, clear, color photo of your child; video of your child; a description of the clothing worn at the time the child was last seen; cell and other phone numbers; date of birth; hair and eye color; height; weight; complexion; identifiers such as eyeglasses or contact lenses, braces, body piercings, tattoos; and/or other unique physical attributes.
- Restrict access to the home, no matter where your child was last seen, until law enforcement has arrived and had the opportunity to search the home and surrounding area.
- Provide law enforcement with information about any individuals who have recently shown unusual attention to or interest in your child.
- Obtain the name of and contact information for the primary investigator assigned to your child's case.
- Report your missing child to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).
- Report your missing child to the missing-child clearinghouse in your state or territory. To find your missing-child clearinghouse visit www.missingkids.com, and from the home page search for "Missing Child Clearinghouses."
Here is a list of things you could do to be prepared in the unlikely event your child goes missing. This list is posted on missingkids.com
- Keep a complete and current written description of your child. This description should include hair and eye color, height, weight, complexion, date of birth and information about items such as eyeglasses or contact lenses, braces, body piercings, tattoos and other unique physical attributes.
- Take color photos, digital if possible, of your child every six months or more often if your child's appearance changes. Photos need to be high quality and in sharp focus so your child's features are easily recognizable.
- Know where your child's medical and dental records are located and how they may be obtained. Medical and dental records, particularly X-rays and radiographs, may be invaluable in helping to identify a recovered child. It is important to record and/or photograph all broken bones and identifying marks, such as permanent scars, birthmarks, blemishes and tattoos.
- Contact your local law enforcement agency to see if they offer fingerprinting for children. If so, arrange with the agency to have your child fingerprinted. Your law enforcement agency has trained personnel to help ensure the fingerprints taken are useful. You will be given the fingerprint card for safekeeping.
- Collect a DNA sample from your child. There are many DNA collection kits available, but it is simple for you to collect a sample on your own. DNA rich items include an old toothbrush allowed to air dry, baby teeth, a hairbrush used exclusively by your child for at least one month or dried blood from a bandage. These items should be placed in a brown envelope licked shut by your child and labeled.
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