Missing Children

Missing Children

Introduction

Children whose whereabouts remain unidentified by their parents or caregivers are describes as missing children.  The rising legislative measures, criminal justice specialists and non-profit organization initiatives have reflected the extreme concern in the nation, regarding the issue of missing children. Irrespective of all these measures, the issue has continued to bother various citizens in the nation. According to the FBI, 85-90 percent of missing persons comprises of the juveniles with over two thousand children missing every day.  Missing children falls under taken and left children, which occurs mostly in public places like parks, shopping stores, beaches, wooded areas, airports, streets and funfairs (NCVC, 2008). This paper shall discuss different case studies where caregivers or parents monitors their children in public places while analyzing their extent of monitoring the child’s safety and give recommendations, which they could have followed.

Case Studies

Etan Patz

At six years of age, the boy waved her mother as he was leaving for school at eight in the morning of 25^th May, 1979. His mother watched, letting the boy walk into the congested city street as she folded her arms in the balcony, watching the boy walk along the street. His mother had given the boy a dollar to buy himself a soda. The boy was walking towards the school bus stop just two blocks westward from his home. It was the very first time to let the boy walk alone in the street with no one to accompany him. Prince Street in Manhattan contained several trees in a trendy neighborhood of SoHo, which was initially an industrial area. As the boy walked along, he smiled to his mother as he disappeared. His mother could see some of Patz’s classmates ahead of him and so she went back into the house to tend to her other two children. This was the last moment she saw his son. The boy was stolen from the crowded SoHo streets but his whereabouts remains unknown to date. This comprises of the initial child missing case in New York and it is until two thousand and two when his parents pronounced the boy as legally dead (Gado, 2011 ‘Etan Patz’)

Gabriel Johnson

Baby Gabriel disappeared on December 27^th 2009 when she was with his mother twenty three years of age at a park in San Antonio, Texas. His mother, Elizabeth Johnson was put under arrest for meddling with court custody since she wanted to put the boy for adoption. She was being impeded to do so by her husband refusal. The boy’s biological father was unsure of the boy’s whereabouts fearing that his mother might have contributed to his disappearance. Johnson could have kidnapped and abused the boy. She has however, claimed that she offered the boy to an unknown couple at the park in San Antonio although the case is still under investigation (Friedman, 2011).

Missing Adam

Adam Walsh at six years of age in Florida accompanied his mother into a mall in a shopping expedition. At Sear’s store, Adam became interested in a video game as his mother proceeded with her shopping. She could see her son as he played. When she went back for him, he was missing from the place she had left him. She alerted the store keepers. Adam could not be found even when his father joined the search but seemingly, some teenagers had been thrown out of the mall for causing confusion. It seemed that the boy had gone out with the teenagers but this was not true. The parents notified the police after two hours of search as the missing boy’s posters were put in Southern Florida region and local televisions alerted of his missing. After a fortnight, the boy’s severed head was found thrown in a ditch at Vera Beach about a hundred and twenty miles from the mall and his body was never found. Ottis Toole was the suspected serial killer (Gado, 2011 ‘Adam & Polly’)

Marion Parker

Parker, a twelve year old girl was abducted from school on December 15^th 1927. A strange man had gone to the principal and told him that the girl’s father had an injurious accident. This was a lie for a criminal to abduct the girl. He demanded ransom from the girl’s father. The criminal failed to exchange the girl even after being given the money. She was found dead and her body badly mutilated on a pavement (Gado, 2011).

The wandering boy

During a normal day at the store, a small boy probably four years of age was seen wondering alone along the isle. He seemed unaware of his circumstances, which caused a well-wisher to keep vigilant of the boy hoping that his caretaker or parent would show up. This depicts neglect and lack of monitoring of the child from the parent, which made him or her lose sight of the boy. This made it very easy for abductors to fulfill their intentions without anyone noticing of the boy’s disappearance (Bouchard & Reuters, 2011).

Discussion and Recommendations

It is essential for caregivers or parents to strategize on the safety of their children especially in public places, an aspect that has been neglected in the discussed case studies. They should not have left their children untended. Besides, the parents should have taught their children a family code word to master it and use it in case of abduction. If someone demanded to leave with them, and seemed not aware of the word, then they should have refused to leave even if they claimed to know their family. One thing that the parents in the case studies did was to raise alarm and report the missing child with immediate effect. It is not safe to have the child’s name in his or her belongings since the abductor could easily call the child by name, hence winning his or her trust. A parent or caregiver should pay attention to their child’s activities and keep a close distance to where they are playing. While in public places, a parent or caregiver could tag her contact details, which could be helpful if a well-wisher finds the child and may easily make a call. Small children and those with special needs should wear the contact tag with cell number and not the home address. Moreover, it is beneficial when a child is dressed in bright colors to be spotted easily probably the same color that the parent is wearing, which is a key identifier to spot the child. While in public places it is essential to carry a current photo of the child which could help identify him or her. It is crucial to train a child to only talk to a woman who has children with her in case she needs any assistance. Positive reinforcement is equally important when a parent goes to a public place with a child without them being lost (NCVC, 2008).

Conclusion

Having a missing child is not only traumatizing but also poses overwhelming tasks for parents. Families have struggled with the issue of a missing child while the process of locating them is tiresome. This issue has remained a challenge in many nations globally. Therefore, awareness to caregivers and parents on child’s safety is paramount. It is therefore important to prevent beforehand, the occurrence of such an issue by being attentive to a child’s activities.

References

Bouchard, S. & Reuters, T. (2011). A Day of Hope – Honoring Our Missing Children. Thomson Reuters, The Knowledge Effect. Retrieved on June 20, 2011 from http://blog.thomsonreuters.com/index.php/tag/missing-children/

Friedman, E. (2011). High-Profile Missing Children Cases Capture Nation’s Attention. ABC News Internet Ventures. Retrieved on June 20, 2011 from http://abcnews.go.com/US/haleigh-cummings-kayleah-wilson-missing/story?id=10395455&page=3

Gado, M. (2011). Etan Patz. Turner Entertainment Networks, Inc., Criminal Library. Retrieved on June 20, 2011 from http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/psychology/child_abduction/index.html

Gado, M. Adam and Polly. Turner Entertainment Networks, Inc., Criminal Library. Retrieved on June 20, 2011 from http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/psychology/child_abduction/9.html

Gado, M. Fate, Death and The Fox: Edward Hickman. Turner Entertainment Networks, Inc., Criminal Library. Retrieved on June 20, 2011 from http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/psychology/child_abduction/6.html

National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC). (2008). The National Center for Victims of Crime. Retrieved on June 20, 2011 from http://www.ncvc.org/ncvc/main.aspx/identitytheft/www.ncvc.org/vb/AGP.Net/Components/vb/www.ncvc.org/about/permissions/main.aspx?dbName=DocumentViewer&DocumentID=32362

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