“My child is gone”

Times Contributor 

 

A mother’s worst nightmare is turning around and finding her child has disappeared. Locating the lost child by the quickest means necessary is the most effective way to recover the child. 

“Everyone has a story as a child, of hiding to give their mother a fright, but for those whose child actually disappears and can’t be found, the loss is unimaginable,” said Becky Scheer, who works with Missing Children Society of Canada (MCSC) as their Communications Officer. “Not a day goes by that I fail to shed a tear for the families. I come home and hug my children tighter.”

Scheer, who originally hails from Strathmore, wants the public to know that MCSC is promoting a way for all Albertans and Canadians to see breaking Amber Alerts on missing children quickly. It enables those who use social networks to almost instantaneously spread the word and increase the chance for a sighting.

“We see this link as providing urgent information to people where they are at,” said Scheer. 

Police already issue Amber alerts links to digital road signs and news stations. Scheer said with improvements in communication technology, alerts to social media were a way to highlight ways to help a missing child. People who access the website www.valuablenetwork.ca and accept the option of donating their Facebook and Twitter feeds will receive critical alerts, targeted to the areas where they live, on their Facebook wall and Twitter feeds. They can forward the alert to friends, or if they notice something related to the missing child’s case, phone 911 or their local police force. 

“Share the information and take the initiative to call the authorities. Every single tip could be the critical piece of the puzzle in an investigation,” said Scheer.

Scheer said people should not be hesitant to call for fear that it may be the wrong child. She said the investigators are all retired police officers, who over the years develop a type of sixth sense. The tips help them target and eliminate any leads that may be pertinent to the case. If callers want to remain anonymous, they can ask to do so.

Statistics from the RCMP for 2011 show there were 46,718 reports of missing children in Canada. The MCSC webpage shows a breakdown of the reported cases of missing children as 25 abductions by strangers, 145 by parents, 33,259 runaways and 13,289 other. 

Scheer reassures those that access www.valuablenetwork.ca  that they will not experience spam or have their private information shared through a back door process. They are able to delete the process if they desire. She says there are only about 60 Amber Alerts issued Canada-wide per year, so it will not radically interfere with their communications.

Some people may be hesitant to call, because they may feel it is a parental issue or the child ran away from home for a reason. Scheer cautions that when a parent abducts a child, the child is in physical, emotional and psychological danger, just by removing them from their regular environments. The stress of the situation may put more pressures on the parent to do irrational things. 

“By calling, people can help the family on their long journey back to a healthy status,” said Scheer, who said social services are involved when the child reunites with the custodial parent.

As for children fleeing an unsafe home atmosphere, Scheer said the child experiences greater danger by taking to the streets. The physical supports of food, shelter and access to resources are gone. 

Prostitution and human traffickers find runaways an attractive prospect. Scheer would like teens considering a runaway situation to contact other resources like a friend, close adult, teacher or social agency rather than taking to the streets.

For more information on the process, on missing children postings or MCSC, it can be accessed at www.mcsc.ca or by calling toll free 1-800-661-6160.