Imagine waking up on a sunny morning when you are older, going into our child’s
bedroom, and finding them not there. Many more parents than expected end up going through
this traumatizing incident. When we hear the word epidemic, we often think of a deadly disease
outbreak. However, an absurd issue we have been encountering is the missing children epidemic.
There are over 2100 children reported missing every day (“Child Abduction Facts”). This
epidemic has become a world issue, with thousands of unsolved cases.
The fact that this epidemic continues to be a problem is why our generation needs to be
aware of it. This problem will continue to arise unless more and more people are mindful of the
reasons this epidemic comes into play. The numbers of missing children would not be so
surprisingly high if over the years we got information out to the world about the different cases
and shocking statistics.
Children going missing has always occurred all over the world, in every type of society,
either due to the child running away or being kidnapped. However, the problem of missing
children became a huge epidemic in the United States in the 1970’s and 1980’s, a time when
everyone thought of the world as a safe place and all people were kind. In 1984, the Missing
Children’s Act was put into place, and since then the number of missing children reported has
increased more and more every year (Lewit). The placement of that act led to Police being
required to immediately enter any missing persons into the National Crime Information Center,
NCIC, starting in 1990. This requirement can account for the 44% increase of missing children
reported between 1991 and 1994 (1). However, the big case that “changed the way society and
the legal system respond[ed] to missing children” was the disappearance of Etan Patz
(Greenblatt).
first time. His case led to “hundreds of laws at the federal, state, and local levels” to be put into
place (Greenblatt). Before Etan’s case, close to every police department in the nation made it
mandatory for parents to wait anywhere between 24 to 72 hours before being able to report their
child missing. Today, police agencies expect, and sometimes even require, much faster responses
(1). The internet has also increased the speed of spreading news and awareness of missing
children. In Etan’s time, it took almost two days to just get fliers printed and faxed out to other
parts of the country. This led to investigators to come up with new ways to spread the word of
missing children, which made Etan the first missing child to show up on milk cartons. Now-adays
it takes only 10 minutes to inform other police agencies of missing children, helping these
children to be found more quickly (1). Etan’s case also brought up the horrifying realization to
many investigators that most children are not abducted by strangers. “More than a quartermillion
children are abducted each year — the vast majority by family members. Only 58,000
are taken by non-family members, and just a third of them are strangers to the child” (1). After
Etan’s abduction, the disappearance of other children inspired new laws to be named according
to the child’s case responsible for them. For example, the AMBER Alert system began in 1996
after 9-year-old Amber Hagerman was kidnapped riding her bike in Arlington, Texas, and later
found brutally murdered (“About AMBER Alert”). The AMBER Alert system has had much
success since it has been founded, bringing home the safe recovery of eight hundred and sixteen
children (“National Missing Children’s Day”).
The world we live in today has become more unpredictable and dangerous than most
people can imagine. Children get abducted for many different reasons, by many different kinds
of people. One reason is their susceptibility and innocence. There are more than double the
amount of children that go missing than adults each year, due to the innocence of the kids and
how easily swayed by abductors they are (Daniel). Other children are held ransom by abductors
for the means of getting money from the child’s family. The huge amounts of money parents are
willing to give for their child’s safe return has increased this illegal “business” (1). Another
factor that encourages abductors to kidnap is the carelessness of the child’s parents. Some
parents have very “reckless behavior that is contributed by too much partying, alcoholism, and
too much work,” which attracts predators (1). These are all common reasons for why children are
taken by strangers or by people in their community, but children can also be kidnapped by their
own family members. When parents go through an unpleasant divorce, sometimes one parent
gets full custody of the children. The parent that is “left-behind” is likely to abduct their own
child for “reconciliation or continued interaction” (“Preventing Family Abduction”). Other
reasons parents or family members take the child are to punish the other parent, fear of losing
custody or visitation rights, and sometimes to even protect the child from the other parent who
could be violent toward the child (1).
Effects
The effect a kidnapping has on the child’s family can be devastating, and can change their
lives forever. “Initially the… family might experience disbelief,” not being able to comprehend
their child missing. Many families have a rude awakening when the police do not respond to the
missing child report like expected (Higleman). This leads many families to turn to their own,
quicker search for their child, which could be very dangerous for them. Around two thousand
missing children cases go unsolved every year (“Majority of Missing Children Cases are
Resolved”). Therefore, many parents come up empty handed, and never have closure to their
child’s disappearance. Parents are faced with a multitude of choices on whether to continue
searching, or to go back to work. “They are emotionally distraught” (Higleman). Many parents
give up their religious beliefs or develop eating disorders due to stress (1). The stress of a
missing child, or one who has passed away, is a huge factor in the parents’ marriage. Many
parents get a divorce after the disappearance of their child, due to the stress and disagreements
on what to do in their child’s case.
In 1983, the first National Missing Children’s Day was memorialized, which fell on the
anniversary of Etan Patz disappearance, May 25th (“National Missing Children’s Day”). This
day was created to remind everyone that our society needs to take the time to focus on children,
to keep them safe, and to educate them on how to stay safe. The FBI declares that this day
“honors [their] commitment to help[ing] locate and recover missing children, and it brings to
focus [their] obligation to create a safe environment for the children of our communities” (1).
This event highlights the support families of missing children have from the community. The FBI
focusses much of their attention to this event every year to help raise awareness of the children
still missing every year. This year, the FBI will be at Westtown Plaza in Chicago on National
Missing Children’s Day to demonstrate their efforts on keeping children safe and supporting the
families of missing children. Events like these show that society is determined to reduce this
horrifying epidemic.
Solutions
There are a number of reasons behind why children go missing. Every case reported is
under different circumstances, and must be handled in a different way. Since there are so many
reasons behind child abductions, there is not just one solution to children going missing. There
are many precautions that the family and society can do and have done to prevent child
abductions.
A key way to prevent child abduction is informing the child about strangers and staying
safe. Many parents do not want to be overly protective of their child but still would like to be
able to keep them safe (Belkin). The best way parents can discuss the dangers of the world
around children is to find teachable moments, that come up in everyday life, to highlight a safety
tip (1). Parents should share with kids when they feel uncomfortable in a situation, and why they
did not take certain actions. Now a days, parents have more to worry about than just the strangers
on the street. They must also worry about the ones their child encounters online. “Before the rise
of the internet, stranger danger referred to the dangers associated with strangers physically
preying on innocent victims enticing with candy, knocking on the door, or approaching a
wandering child at a grocery store” (“Anna ISD”). In this new era many shows and movies have
warned about the dangers of the internet, and parents are more encouraged to speak to their child
about talking to strangers online. However, we have ingrained the idea of stranger danger so
much into children’s brains when only 25 percent of children abducted are taken by complete
strangers (Dowshen). This can keep children from being confident about talking to people and
damage their social skills because they are unsure of whom they should be afraid to talk to (1).
So how do you keep a child safe from people they have a relationship with? Fifty-three
percent of family abducted kids are abducted by their biological father, and 25 percent by their
biological mother (Hammer). There are numerous things that the parent with custody of the child
can do to protect them. The parent should be sure and have a detailed custody order and good
legal advice in order to protect their parenting rights (“Preventing Abduction Tips”). Have a
detailed custody orders that specify the beginning and end of visitations (1). The parent should
not ignore any threat made by the other parent. The parent should always notify the police if they
feel like their child may be in danger (1).
In our society we have many things that help bring children home after being abducted. It
is hard for a community to prevent child abductions due to every case and reason behind the
kidnappings being different. Amber alerts were created by the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children. These reports help notify people to look out for certain children that have
been abducted, and can include the clothes they were last seen in or what car they may be in. As
of December 23, 2015, Amber Alerts have been responsible for the return of 800 kids across
America, showing how effective this system has been (“AMBER Alerts”). The National Center
for Missing and Exploited Children also has a national database on their website where you can
search for and identify any child that has gone missing. Another important program that has
begun is the National Child Identification Program. In 1997, the American Football Coaches
Associations started this community service initiative to provide parents and guardians with the
tools they need to help protect their children (User). The National Child Identification Program
distributes ID Kits, which allows parents to collect specific information by easily recording the
physical characteristics and fingerprints of their children on identification cards that are then kept
at home by the parent or guardian (1). This ID Kit will give authorities vital information to assist
finding the child if they ever go missing (1). All these programs are important solutions in
finding missing children quicker and more efficient so they are brought home safely.
Camus’ Beliefs
Albert Camus was considered a womanizer by many due to his multiple affairs while
married. His affairs were because he did not believe in the institution of marriage, and was trying
to make a statement about it (“Albert Camus-Fats”). However, Camus was also a father to a set
of twins, Catherine and Jean Camus (1). Being a father, one can only believe that he had all the
normal fears any father would have, despite his absurd beliefs. Like any other parent, Camus was
sure to worry about the dangers that lurked in the world, especially after all the events that
occurred in his life. Camus would have believed it was an absurd idea for others to take another
person’s life to fulfil their own. The fact that his own children could go missing or taken by
people he would know had to of been tough for him due to his need for control over his life. The
truth is, no matter what insane beliefs someone may have, when it comes to children, everyone
has the same fears.
Conclusion
The epidemic for missing children is not a problem most people would think of when
imaging a sudden, widespread phenomenon. However, many families go through this traumatic
experience of looking for their abducted child every year. This event has been a big issue for
decades, with police struggling to find answers to why each child goes missing. It is difficult for
police to understand and stop child abductions due to each case being unique and having its own
circumstances. There is no correlation between each case, so they each must be handled
differently. Parents and society as a whole can help, and have helped, prevent child abductions. If
we continue to talk to our children and create programs to bring missing children home, we can
eliminate this epidemic and make it a big problem of the past.
Works Cited
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