University of FloridaSolutions for Your Life

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Publication #FAR0100

 

Missing Children1

Donna Davis2

It's nearly impossible to miss the headline stories, the posters at the grocery store or post office, the milk cartons . . . even the television series that dramatize the tragic tale of missing children.

If you're afraid to let your child play in the yard or walk down the street for fear of abduction, perhaps a report from the Department of Justice can help shed light on the risks involved. The 2002 National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children reported that there are an estimated 45 stereotypical stranger "kidnappings" per year of children under age 12 in the United States. That's less than one child in a million each year (National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children 2002). In fact, a child has more chance of being killed by a lightning strike than of being abducted (National Weather Service n.d.).

More commonly, children are abducted by family members. According to the most recent data in 2002, approximately 200,000 missing children were victims of family abduction, and almost half of them were not reported as missing because their caretakers knew their child's whereabouts. Most of the missing children in the U.S. became missing because they had either run away (48%) or because of a misunderstanding about where they were supposed to be (28%). An additional 15% of the children were missing because they became lost or injured. Of the children reported missing by their caretaker, 99.8% were returned home alive or had been located by the time the study was complete (NISMART 2002).

Of course, the fear of losing a child is every parent's worst nightmare. Parents may feel more comfortable if they understand that it is unlikely that children will be abducted by strangers.

Listening, learning, and living together: it's the science of life. "Family Album" is a co-production of University of Florida IFAS Extension, the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, and of WUFT-FM. If you'd like to learn more, please visit our website at http://www.familyalbumradio.org.

To listen to the radio broadcast:

http://www.radiosource.net/radio_stories/315.mp3

http://www.radiosource.net/radio_stories/315.wav

References

National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children. (October 2002) Highlights from the NISMART bulletins. Retrieved September 4, 2007, from http://www.ncjrs.gov/html/ojjdp/nismart/05/index.html.

National Weather Service. (n.d.). Medical aspects of lightning. Retrieved September 4, 2007, from http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/medical.htm.

Footnotes

1.

This document is FAR0100, one of a series of the Family Youth and Community Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Broadcast as program 315. Published March 2009. Revised March 2009. Reviewed March 2012. In the interest of time and/or clarity, the broadcast version of this script may have been modified. Visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2.

Donna Davis, senior producer, Family Album Radio, Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, Dean.