Act Against Injustice

It is currently impossible to obtain an accurate and comprehensive picture of the nature or scale of the problem (estimates range between 100,000 and 180,000). Data collection on missing children is neither coordinated nor centralised.

Every year hundreds of thousands of children around the world go missing or are abducted. Some are forcibly separated from one parent by the other; some are abused; and others simply disappear, never to be found again.

A child can be missing as the result of a simple misunderstanding; a child can ran away from home to avoid abuse; it can be abducted by a parent who does not like a custody decision; or it can be abducted by a stranger or even kidnapped for ransom (continued below newsflash)

Kyron Horman 8-year-old boy missing - Portland, Ore, USA -

http://www.helpfindmychild.net/kyron-horman - latest June 06 2011

(continued from above) NISMART, initiated a massive research project in 1988 in the USA. Since then, the Department of Justice has regularly published detailed statistics about the number of children who go missing.

• 800,000 children younger than 18 are missing each year, or an average of 2,000 children reported missing each day.

• 200,000 children were were abducted by family members.

• 58,000 children were abducted by nonfamily members, and

• 115 children were the victims of “stereotypical” kidnapping. These crimes involve someone the child does not know, or knows only slightly, who holds the child overnight, transports the child 50 miles or more, kills the child, demands ransom, or intends to keep the child permanently.

In the United Kingdom Every year, an estimated 140,000 children and young people runaway or go missing. Most of them return safely within a short time. Research by the Children’s Society indicates that around 10,000 children are hurt or harmed while they are away from home or care. A significant number are running from abuse, and have no safe home to return to. Some children are harmed very severely whilst away, with lifelong consequences, some disappear without trace, and it is estimated that about 50 children per year die or are killed while they are missing.

We heard that all these figures are estimates because no data is collected nationally and there are no systems to allow a national picture to be compiled. There is no national policy for handling the subject and no reliable figures to suggest who is missing and why. Instead there are charities, organisations, web sites and police forces that duplicate each other’s work. The child's safety is compromised, while time and money are wasted.

The UK has a lot to learn from the example set by the United States, where missing persons' policy is much more highly developed. Broadcasters work closely with the police, members of the public and other organisations. They deliver a strong, unified message to the predators. But it wasn't always this way.

In 1981 an incident occurred that rocked the United States. Adam Walsh, who was six at the time, was abducted from a Florida department store only one mile from his home. His parents embarked on a publicity rampage, much like that of the McCann's, before his body was discovered sixteen days later.

From the seeds of a nightmare grew a forest of measures devised to strengthen the federal law and protect those too young to protect themselves. A new Child Protection Act came into effect, together with The National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children,  and the show America's Most Wanted, hosted by John Walsh, Adam's father.

The UK tried to follow suit in 2006 by launching a scheme called "Child Rescue Alert" based on the American "Amber Alert" which was introduced following the kidnapping and gruesome murder of a nine year-old girl called Amber.

It works by interrupting television and radio programmes with immediate news flashes when a youngster is snatched, although the benefits are yet to be seen; as have the broadcasts, there is little enforcement! Abduction rates are rising and more needs to be done. Often children are snatched and taken abroad. We need better border controls, the police need to react quicker and take missing children cases more seriously."

It seems where police establish that the danger is not immediate, little is done. By the time the scale of the danger escalates it can be too late. Once we can grasp the nature and scale of this situation, we can begin to devise policy to protect our children.