For over 30 years, May 25th has also been known as International Missing Children’s Day.
Agencies like the RCMP, Winnipeg Police Service and Canadian Centre for Child Protection are reminding parents of ways to keep children safe, with emphasis on the ‘buddy system.’
“We’re reinforcing how important that safety in numbers notion is as kids get older. I think we’re doing really well with little kids understanding that,” explains Christy Dzikowicz, director of Missing Children’s Services with the Centre for Child Protection. “What we need to be able to do that also is carrying that over into young adulthood, as kids are taking on new risks and gaining their independence.”
Dzikowicz says while abductions are still rare, parental abductions are happening more frequently.
“An average parent might say, ‘There must be something terrible going on for that parent to take such desperate measures.’ But the vast majority that we see are more motivated by anger between two adults than having anything to do with the child. The child ends up being a very significant victim in the whole thing.”
Dzikowicz admits that there will always be missing children, that tragedies cannot be completely prevented, but that we must learn from them in order to better protect our kids.
She also stresses that not every case is reported on.
“The ones where police are issuing a release or we’re putting out a statement or alert, those are situations that we’ve already made the decision that the public can really help us and that we need the public’s help.”
You can sign up to get missing children alerts at missingkids.ca.
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