National Missing Children's Day promotes awareness, keeping kids safe

Event encourages parents to talk to their kids about safety, stranger danger

It's one of the worst possible nightmares for parents: having a child go missing. Measures to keep children safe continue to increase, yet it takes but seconds to have a loved one go missing--almost literally before your eyes. Many innocent children continue to be abducted by strangers each year, often with doting parents nearby.

National Missing Children's Day is observed every year on May 25 to help promote child safety and to keep the dangers of child abductions at the forefront of caregivers' minds whenever their children are outside of their own home. The day has been observed since 1984, and falls on the anniversary of the day in 1979 when 6-year-old Etan Patz disappeared from a New York street corner on his way to school. It was first proclaimed by President Ronald Reagan and has been observed by every administration since.

Abductors need only seconds to snatch a child from parents who have turned away to talk to someone to look at something. In many cases, trusting parents believe it is safe for their child to play nearby while under their careful eye, yet abductions occur at parks and sports fields more often than anyone would like to think. Sometimes, parents think their child is old enough to ride their bike or play in their child-friendly neighborhood, and believe their child would know what to do if a stranger approaches. Sometimes, child abductions end happily, where children are returned to their parents unharmed. Tragically, in many cases, they are killed or are never found.

In addition to talking to your child about child safety and stranger danger, what else can parents do? The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children also offers the following tips:

• Take 25 minutes to talk with your children about safety. Parents should also talk with grandparents, child care providers, guardians, and occasional care workers about ways to keep children in their care as safe as possible.



• Sign up to receive electronic Amber alerts. Parents can also ask to receive posters of missing children via email and help to publicize missing children.



• Promote safety and The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children organization to others. The more people who know about ways to keep children safer and what to do if a child goes missing, the greater the odds of a child being found safe.

Source: The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children