Protecting Your Children from Abduction

Few events could be more devastating than having your child or a child under your care abducted. Unfortunately, thousands of children are abducted in the United States each year. To help keep this from happening to your child, here's some important information you should know.

Facts about child abduction
Child abduction is categorized by the abductor's relationship to the abductee. There are three types: family abduction (49 percent), acquaintance abduction (27 percent), and stranger abduction (24 percent).¹

• Family abduction is most often committed by parents, occurs more frequently to children under six, and most often originates in the home.
• Acquaintance abduction involves a much higher number of juvenile abductors, has the highest percent of teenage and female victims, and is most often connected to other crimes like sexual and physical assault. This type of abduction has the highest percent of injured victims.
• Stranger abduction occurs to more females than males, takes place most frequently in outdoor locations, victimizes primarily both teenagers and school-age children, is commonly connected to sexual assaults with female victims and robberies with male victims, and is the type of abduction most likely to involve a firearm.

Most non-family abductors take their victims on the street, usually attempting to lure them into their vehicles. In the majority of abductions by strangers, the first contact between the child and the abductor occurred within a quarter mile of the child's home and rarely are children moved more than 50 miles from this location. Each year, 58,000 children are victims of stranger/non-family abductions.²

How to help prevent an abduction
Many people don't talk to their children about child abduction because they do not know how to tell a child to protect him or her self, because they believe it will frighten the child without making her or her safe, and because they do not want the child to feel they cannot trust anyone. However, the truth is that children intuitively can recognize danger if they have instructions about what is and is not safe.

Teach young children to…

• Recognize the difference between strangers and trusted adults. If a stranger approaches them and asks them to do something that is wrong, teach them to say "No!" and go tell a trusted adult about the stranger.
• Kick, scream and bite if a strangers tries to force them into a car. They should yell repeatedly that they're being kidnapped so that passers-by don't mistake their actions for a tantrum.
• Never answer the door if alone. If they are alone and they answer the phone, they should not admit to being alone or give any information like their name or address.
• Not invite anyone in the house without your permission. Also, they should not go into someone else's house without telling you where they are.
• Never get into someone's car without your permission. Establish rigid procedures if your child is to be picked up from school or from a friend's house by someone else. Establish a code word and give this code word only to individuals you've made arrangements with to pick up your child.
• Not accept candy or gifts from or agree to go see a puppy or other animal with a stranger. Also, instruct them to tell you if someone has asked them to keep a secret from you.
• Recognize isolated locations and avoid playing there. Never wander away from the yard without letting you know where they are going.
• Come straight home from school unless other arrangements have been made. Whenever possible, walk with other children. Children who are alone are most frequently the targets of abduction.
• Move away from any car that pulls up next to them if the driver is not known. Report anyone who exposes themselves.

Tell your teen to…

• Let you know where they are at all times. If they have a cell phone, make sure they have it with them and that it is fully charged when they leave the house.
• Never hitchhike. Explain that drivers rarely stop because they want to help someone in need. They often have a different agenda.
• If they use the Internet, teach them the danger of "chat room" friends and explain that they should never divulge personal information about themselves to an online stranger. Also, they should never agree to meet an online friend in person. If someone asks to meet your teen, tell him or her to let you know.
• Avoid shortcuts through isolated parks, alleys or fields. Explain that isolated areas are the most common places for an abduction to take place.
• Go to the nearest public place for help or run home or to a safe house if they are being followed.
• Report suspicious behavior to you or the police. Make sure they remember descriptions of persons or vehicles they report.
• Give up money, jewelry or clothing if attacked by an armed assailant rather than fight and risk injury.

Make sure that you…

• Don't let your child wear clothing with his or her name on it. Children are less likely to fear someone who knows their name.
• Never leave your child alone in a public place, even in a locked car. Accompany a young child to the bathroom in a public place. Instruct them to never play in or around public restrooms. It can only take a moment for an abduction to occur.
• Accompany your child on door-to-door activities like Halloween and school fundraising campaigns.
• Keep track of your children's Internet activity. Share email accounts and passwords. Make sure you know what sites they visit and if they meet anyone suspicious while online.
• Avoid having service people come to the home if your children are there alone.
• Establish safe houses where your child can go if in trouble. A safe house can be the home of a trusted friend or some other trusted individual in the neighborhood who agrees to let children make emergency calls.
• Teach them that the police are their friends and that they can rely on them if they are in trouble. Make sure they know to dial 911 or 0 if they need assistance.
• Keep an up-to-date color photograph of your child (a new photo every six months) and a medical and dental history. Also, be sure to have your child fingerprinted.
• Make sure you have documentation of custody on hand. Parental abductions affect hundreds of thousands of families each year.
• Check the references of all babysitters, nannies or day-care providers that you consider.

If your child is abducted
Acting quickly is critical. If you believe your child has been abducted:

• Call 911 immediately. But don't stop there. Contact your local police department, county sheriff, state police and law enforcement in surrounding jurisdictions. The FBI will initiate a kidnapping investigation for children under 12 years, even if the criminal hasn't crossed state lines.
• Notify local media. The sooner the community has been notified that a child has been abducted, the greater the chances of recovery. Many communities now initiate America's Missing Broadcast Emergency Response (AMBER) alerts upon the abduction of a child to enlist the public's help in locating the child during the critical early hours of an abduction.
• Make sure your home phone line is open and make sure it is attended by someone your child knows at all times. Install Caller ID if you do not already have it and record conversations. This may be the only way your child can reach you.
• Contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST and contact Team H.O.P.E., a parent support network for families with missing children. Team H.O.P.E.'s volunteer parents have experienced the agony of searching for their own children. They provide practical and emotional support for parents whose children are victims of predatory kidnapping, parental abduction, international abduction, adult missing, and runaways. They can be reached at 1-800-306-6311.
• Log on or refer the responding law enforcement agency to www.beyondmissing.com. This web site allows registered law enforcement agencies to immediately create and distribute missing flyers to other targeted law enforcement agencies using powerful Internet tools. Parents also can create, download and print flyers for duplication. There is no cost for these services.
• Take care to preserve your physical and emotional welfare. This will be an extremely taxing experience. You will need sobriety, presence of mind, and good judgment. Remember to eat and sleep regularly. Seek emotional and psychological support from your church, social service agencies, or professional counselors with experience in your type of situation.