National Missing Children’s Day: Honouring Our Missing Children
Written by Cassie Licari & Dominique Houle on 25/05/10
Photo by Shannonashley on Flickr
Today is National Missing Children’s Day. This important day commemorates all children who have gone missing in the past, and all those who continue to go missing every year. We also pay tribute to the invaluable work of the RCMP’s National Missing Children Services and their multiagency program called Our Missing Children (GC).
In Canada, the number of children that go missing each year has increased annually since 2005. In 2007, around 60,000 children went missing for a number of reasons, such as kidnapping, parental abduction, running away from home, etc. (RCMP). Our Missing Children works to help prevent and find missing children in Canada. Together, the RCMP, Canada Border Services Agency, Department of Justice Canada and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade come together with parents, law enforcement and other organizations to support the common cause of protecting Canada’s children (RCMP). This program also partners with Interpol and law enforcement agencies in the United States to serve Canadian children on an international level. These international partnerships are particularly important, as a recent study showed that 63% of children who are victims of parental abduction are taken out of the country (RCMP).
Our Missing Children provides critical assistance and services to its partners and Canadian citizens. Some of these services include organizing investigations of missing children, finding children who have been taken outside of Canada and providing resources and education to help prevent children from going missing. The program also provides several other services – click here for more information.
In 1996 Our Missing Children received the Award of Excellence for outstanding work and achievements of the public service. In 1999 they received the Webber Seavey Award for proactive law enforcement efforts within communities (RCMP). The achievements and efforts within this program have provided hope for many people, and the extraordinary work and dedication of the program’s partners help make Canada safer for children.
Check out the Missing Children Society of Canada (one of Our Missing Children’s partner organizations) for real life success stories of children who have been safely returned home.
Links
Royal Canadian Mounted Police: Our Missing Children
Missing Children Society of Canada