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More than
2,000 Children Missing Daily;
Thoughts on
Protecting Your Young Child
Anyone who watches the
evening news has seen those grainy shopping mall
videos that tell the horrific story of a young
child lured away by a predator, leaving another
family destroyed.
You hope and pray the
family will be among the lucky ones who see
their child again, alive and unharmed. Too
often, however, that’s not the case.
Many times the
kidnapping occurs after the young child wanders
away from a parent or other family member for
just a precious few seconds…but just enough time
for the kidnapper to make his move.
Today no family should
have to go through this agony, due to numerous
protective devices on the market; one of them is
Child Guard, a remote monitoring system. Child
Guard looks like a toy; it attaches to the child
and provides the adult with a warning signal if
the youngster strays beyond a pre-set boundary,
up to 30 feet.
This and many other
options have been created to address an
epidemic: According to the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children in a report
posted on its internet site, more than 2,000
children per day are reported missing.
Fortunately, a bright
spotlight was shone on this epidemic a few years
back after the abductions of Samantha Runnion,
Polly Klass and Adam Walsh. Since then, the
media has been much more sensitive to the
subject and has covered these kinds of crimes to
a much greater degree.
But what the media
doesn’t cover are the many “good news” stories
involving responsible adults who utilize one or
more of the safety devices available to them.
An article you won’t read may have reported:
“hundreds of tots nationwide returned safely to
their homes last night after wandering away from
their parents in a crowded mall, but who were
sighted immediately when the children’s Child
Guard sounded.”
The National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children is focusing on
this subject 24/7. It is the leader in the
fight against missing children. Working closely
with the Federal Government, the NCMEC provides
a 24-hour hotline for both reporting missing
children and to pass along spottings of one they
may have seen. It is 1-800-THE-LOST.
The NCMEC recommends
that you provide your children at the earliest
possible age with information for them to try
and memorize-–their name, where they live, their
phone number, etc. Make a game out of vital
information as soon as children can respond to
such data and quiz them daily on it.
Some of the most obvious
recommendations relate to constant vigilance.
It is so tempting to let go of a child’s hand
for a split second to check out a garment or to
reach an item on a shelf. The sad litany of
recorded kidnappings at malls and grocery
stores, etc., confirms the fact that split
seconds often are all that is needed for a
tragedy to begin to unfold.
If that child is wearing
some kind of safety device, however, such as a
Child Guard, and a warning sounded, no doubt the
potential kidnapper would abandon the child and
head for the exits. Don’t wait for the worst
to happen. Investigate some of the preventive
devices out there.
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Worn
by the child, the cartoon animal-shaped transmitter sends
a constant signal to the receiver, which is held by the adult.
The signal is adjustable - from a distance of 6 to 30 feet,
so when the child goes beyond the set distance, the adult's
receiver starts to beep, letting them know that the child
is starting to wander off.