Missing Children and Youth

There are many reasons children and youth may be reported missing. Children may wander away or hide; they may be abducted by parent in a custody battle; they may run away. Stereotypical abductions by strangers are by far the rarest case scenario in missing children cases.

When a child goes missing, parents and caregivers may react emotionally in many different ways. Few parents know exactly what to do when their children go missing, but here are some basic steps to follow, for any kind of missing child case.

 

1. Call the police/911. The police have access to many different kinds of resources to search for missing people. Furthermore, many other agencies, like JWRC, cannot assist families until law enforcement has been contacted.

• File a missing person’s report with the police. Ask the police to file the child's information in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), a database of crime information, including missing persons.

2. Contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). This agency has the ability to create missing persons' posters and distribute them nation-wide via e-mail and fax, among other resources.

• Call 1-800-THE-LOST.

  • A NCMEC specialist will ask you a series of questions, regarding the child's physical description, circumstances of the disappearance, and your contact information, among other things. The screener will then forward the information on to a case manager, who will call you back.

  • NCMEC handles cases of children age 18 and under. They may be able to assist in some cases of young adults, if requested by law enforcement.

3. Find photos of your child. Good photos are one of the most important and useful tools in missing persons investigations.

• Make several color copies of each photo, and store the originals in a safe place. You can make copies at most retailers with photo printing services.

• Scan the photos to your computer and save as electronic files. You can often get electronic copies burned to a CD or saved on a flash drive when you're making copies at photo printing services. 

• Give physical copies or e-mail electronic copies of the photos to law enforcement and your case manager at NCMEC.

• The best, most useful photos are color, up-close shots of the head and shoulders, including the hair and teeth. School pictures are okay, but candid photos often give a more realistic image of the child in everyday life.

4. Close off the child's bedroom. The room could contain evidence important to the investigation.

• Do not wash bedding or clothing, and do not clean the room until law enforcement lets you know it's okay to do so.

• Do not delete anything off of the child's computer or Internet accounts, and do not try to investigate the computer yourself; the police are trained to do this.

• If asked for the child's toothbrush or hair brush/comb by the police, transport these items in a paper bag, not plastic! Plastic bags can destroy biological evidence.

5. Write everything down. This is an intense situation requiring conversations with many different people, and it may be easy to forget who you've spoken to about what. In addition, the police may be able to use this log as evidence in the investigation.

• Record the names, phone numbers, agencies, and titles of people you talk to about the case, including the date and details of the conversation.

• If people volunteer to help in the search, record their names, addresses, phone numbers, and license plate numbers, even if you know them. Note what they did to help, and when. Click here to read more about working with volunteers.

6. Ask for help. It's very important to take care of yourself. Having a missing child can be very emotionally, physically, and spiritually draining, and it's important to maintain good levels of energy and health.

• Seek assistance and support from non-profit support organizations, such as JWRC. Staff are available via helpline 24 hours a day at 1-800-325-HOPE (4673). We can assist you with emotional support, and direct you to helpful resources and literature, such as NCMEC's family survival guide.

• Team Hope can be a great support resource. It is a network of parents and caregivers who have experienced having a missing child, and have agreed with others in the same situation to offer support.

• Reach out to community resources, such as block clubs, PTAs, or faith organizations. Ask close friends and family for help with household duties such as cooking and cleaning.

• Seek out mental health resources for yourself, as well as your other children and family members. Talking to a professional can help ease the burden of the extremely difficult feelings that naturally come with having missing loved ones. 

Other Tips

• Gather newspapers or news stories from the Internet regarding events going on in your neighborhood on the day before, the day of, and the day after the child's disappearance. These may provide some clues about the context of the disppearance.

• Ask a close friend or non-immediate family member to act as the spokesperson for calls from the media. If your child's story gets press coverage, the inundation of reporters asking questions can be overwhelming to a parent or caregiver close to the story, at a time when you're already pushed to your emotional limits. In addition, hold media and press conferences at a place away from your home, such as a school, church or police station. Click here to read more about working with the media.

• According to Suzanne's Law, police are required to accept reports of missing children up to age 21, enter them into NCIC, and begin investigating immediately. In Minnesota, police are required to accept all missing persons reports, without delay.

• Facebook can be very useful in missing persons cases. With law enforcement's permission, consider making a Facebook page about the missing person, or just making a post on your own wall and asking friends to "share" the post on their walls. If you need help with Facebook, ask a knowledgeable friend.