Child Abduction
We previously posted an article about organizations that were fighting hard in the battle for preventing and dealing with instances where children have gone missing or been abducted, but there are so many groups out there that deserve recognition that we decided to publish another article to increase awareness about the public services that they are providing us all. Many of us know how big of a problem child abduction is, but there are people out there that want to help but do not know what they can do. These are some of the organizations that are out on the front lines, and any help that they can get is going to benefit the children of our country in the end.
In Nevada, groups like the Nevada Child Seekers have been helping to find missing or abducted children for quite some time, but they are the only one that is not charging a penny for what they do. The program was created in 1985, incorporated in 1996, and still going strong in 2009. Their website has information on what to do if your child is missing and how to report it, photos of missing children, and support groups are available to parents as well. Donating to their organization can help them, and in turn Nevada’s children, quite a bit. In 2008 the donations that they received allowed them to provide 3,000 child identification packets, provide abduction prevention education to over 13,000 school children, parents and school administrators, and search assistance and case management for 351 kids. Nevada Child Seekers is a member of the Association for Missing and Exploited Children Organizations (AMECO) giving them an International network to assist in the search for missing and abducted children.
For people that have a child that is missing, the Child Search Ministries is doing plenty to keep hope alive. They are providing families with crisis counseling, there are trained professionals that go out to search for children for absolutely no charge, and they help to distribute images of the missing child on television programs, magazines, flyers, mail, and the Internet. Child Search Ministries also run prevention training seminars and there is a hotline for parents to use (1-800-316-HOPE) to report abductions. On the front page of their website, you can see dozens of photos of both children that are currently missing and kids that have been found because of their efforts. Visit the site to join their mailing list, or if you would like to get involved you find out how to become a volunteer.
Another organization that has been around for 25 years is the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Their group mainly focuses on missing children, sexual exploitation, sex offenders, and child safety. Their website makes it very easy to report a sighting of a missing child or provide information regarding child pornography or any other related crimes. There is an electronic tipline that visitors can use for reporting and there is a hotline as well (1-800-843-5678). The amount of resources available for parents, attorneys, law enforcement, childcare providers, and the media is plentiful as well. You can read about how you can keep your children safe and teach them to make good decisions. Get involved with NCMEC by adding a banner or link on your website or donating to them directly.
Along with the other groups mentioned, the Committee for Missing Children is also dedicated to helping parents and finding missing children. Their rate of success should provide parents with a good deal of reassurance. They have distributed millions of images of 1500 missing kids since they first started in 1991 and they have assisted in the reunion of over 1200 of those children with their parents. Their website has an entire database of missing children and visitors can see them state by state. There is a great deal of information about attorneys that parents can look through, safety tips for parents and kids to look through. A newsletter is available so that people can stay up to date with the Committee’s happenings. Donations can help the group keep their great rate of success and more importantly it would help children find their way back home.
As long as there are great organizations out there that are doing whatever is in their power to help find missing children and provide these services to the public, Laws.com will keep reporting on them so that their exposure can increase. The more people that know about these groups, the more people will be seeing the images of these missing children.
