The 25th May is International Missing Children’s Day and globally more than one million children are reported missing every year. Missing Children’s Day was established in 1983 in USA and was chosen following the disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz on 25th May 1979 in New York. This then became an international event in 2001 and is now observed all over the world. The 25th May is a day to highlight missing children who have been found and those who have not yet been reunited with their families.
The Global Missing Children’s Network was formed in 1998 and has 23 member countries who connect to share information, best practices, and work towards success rates of finding missing children.
The International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) “considers any child under the age of 18 whose whereabouts are unknown to be “missing”. This includes children who have been abducted, abandoned, separated from their parents, or are running away from a home that is not safe. In the UK, an estimated 76,000 children are reported missing every year.
Catch22 “What’s Missing?” Campaign shared that:
- 1 in 7 of the children who completed return home interviews had been sexually exploited.
- 1 in 5 children who completed return home interviews disclosed information about mental health issues.
- 1 in 10 children who completed return home interviews had been a victim of criminal exploitation.
Many of those children who go missing may be victims of family or non-family abductions, they may be runaways or missing without explanation. Of those who are abducted, 9 percent are kidnapped by a family member. Thankfully, many children are reunited with their families and return after a short period of time, however, the longer a child is missing the more at risk of harm they are. As individuals, professionals, and organisations, we have a responsibility to protect our children. Together we can help bring them home.
We can protect our children by making sure that we carry out background checks on any carers, never leave young children alone in car seats or pushchairs, avoid putting their name on their clothing, teaching them their address and telephone number as early as possible, and educating them on the importance of basic online safety.
Thirsty Scholars Partnership are raising awareness through their Basic Online Safety course to support parents, carers, and any professional working with children, for free support and education to keep our children safe on #InternationalMissingChildrensDay.
ICMEC shares “We believe every child deserves to be in the safety and security of a caring adult” a sentiment which should be unified internationally.
If it happens to any child, it happens to too many.
Written by Georgie McIntyre, Director of Learning and Development at The Classroom Partnership.
