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A novel use of technology is helping to locate missing children around the world, including 9-year-old Phillista Waithera, who vanished in Nairobi in 2021. Two years later, she was reunited with her immediate family with the use of Face Age Progression (FAP) technology, which utilizes an Artificial Intelligence (AI) app to create photos of the child to show what they would look like now. In 2021 alone, the Kenyan nonprofit Missing Child Kenya Foundation located 298 children using AI, according to CEO and founder Maryanna Munyendo. And in central China’s Hubei Provence, a group of students at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) developed an AI system to restore and enhance old blurry photos of children who went missing decades earlier. More than 1,000 photos have been restored to improve clarity, helping reunite 11 missing children, like Sun Zhuo, a 4-year-old abducted in 2007 from his daycare in Shenzhen Province and rejoined with his biological parents in 2021 at age 18.

Ukraine officials have identified more than 19,000 children illegally removed from their homes and taken to Russia or Russia-controlled territory since the war began in February 2022. In some cases, Russian authorities took hundreds of children from Ukrainian orphanages and schools, according to Russian documents gathered by Lyudmyla Denisova, a former Ukraine human rights official. Many children were removed on the pretext of rescuing them from the war zone, or lured with the promise of attending camp. Others were taken from hospitals. Russian authorities have placed children with foster families, and President Vladimir Putin opened the way for Russian families to adopt Ukrainian children. The Russian strategy is deliberate, premeditated, and systematic, according to evidence collected by Ukrainian and international human rights and war crimes organizations. In March 2023, The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Putin and another official, a move that has made it easier to return children. Charities such as Save Ukraine and SOS Children’s Villages Ukraine have taken up the cause, and in recent months have tracked down and returned 387 children to their families.

Dozens of migrant children who sought protection after fleeing war-torn countries have vanished in Ireland since 2017. A 2023 report published by University College Dublin’s (UCD) Sexual Exploitation Research Programme (SERP) indicates some of the children were victims of organized sexual exploitation. Of the 62 who are missing, 44 have reached their 18th birthday and, because they are no longer minors, child welfare has ceased searching for them. MECPATHS (Mercy Efforts for Child Protection Against Trafficking with the Hospitality and Services Sectors), a nonprofit group raising awareness of child trafficking and exploitation in Ireland, said the report confirmed what frontline workers have been telling the organization for years. “Sexual exploitation, forced labor, forced begging, criminal exploitation, forced marriage, the removal of organs, and domestic servitude—it is all happening in Ireland,” said Ann Mara, the organization’s education manager. “So, the fact that these children are missing, and there is a kind of a shrug of the shoulders, is just mind-boggling.”

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General Augusto Pinochet’s 17-year reign of terror resulted in tens of thousands of Chileans killed, tortured, and imprisoned—and an estimated 20,000 newborns were stolen and put up for adoption abroad. Pinochet was deposed in 1990, but the thousands of families whose babies were illegally taken still feel the pain. To help them and their missing children find answers, the Chilean nonprofit group Nos Buscamos has partnered with online genealogy platform MyHeritage to provide free at-home DNA testing kits for Chilean adoptees and victims of child trafficking. The effort is paying off: One American man has been given his birthright back. In late summer 2023, Nos Buscamos helped Jimmy Lippert Thyden locate his biological mother in Chile after 42 years. Thyden’s DNA test matched him to a first cousin who connected him with his birth mother, Maria Angelica Gonzalez. Thyden soon traveled to Chile with his family to meet her. The NGO has orchestrated over 450 such reunions between adoptees and their birth families in the last decade.

Digital powerhouse Meta has joined forces with Brazil’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security to help locate missing children and adolescents up to age 18. In an agreement signed on the International Day of Missing Persons this past August, two of Meta’s platforms—Facebook and Instagram—have begun issuing emergency alerts for Brazil’s missing children. Emily Vacher, Meta’s Global Director of Responsibility and Safety, says the technology has been used in 30 countries since 1990 and resulted in locating more than 1,200 children. Meta hopes to expand the program to other platforms, including WhatsApp and Threads.

United States congressional delegates High Chief Uifa’atali Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen of American Samoa and James Moylan of the District of Guam are co-sponsors of a bill to raise mandatory minimum jail time from 15 to 25 years for convicted child traffickers. The bill, known as the Combating Human-Trafficking of Innocent Lives Daily (C.H.I.L.D.) Act of 2023, also requires uniform sentences for traffickers who exploit victims under the age of 18. The toughened law is expected to send a strong message to those who engage in child sex trafficking. “Human trafficking is one of the greatest crimes imaginable, yet it is a sad reality that we must defeat,” said Congresswoman Radewagen. “Thank you to Congressman Moylan for his leadership on this important issue as we fight for the lives and futures of vulnerable children.” Representatives Don Davis of North Carolina, Diana Harshbarger of Tennessee, and Don Bacon of Nebraska also co-sponsored the bill, which was introduced last September.

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Photo of Carlos Morales Rojas, Mexico’s Alerta Amber National Coordination Liaison. At a regional conference, he showed faces of missing children—even as he was working a developing case that prompted issuance of a national AMBER Alert. — Carlos Morales Rojas, Mexico’s Alerta Amber National Coordination Liaison, showed faces of missing children—even as he was working a developing case that prompted issuance of a national AMBER Alert.

By Rebecca Sherman

On the morning of August 29, 2023, as AMBER Alert Coordinators from northern Mexico gathered in a Monterrey hotel ballroom for a three-day child protection training conference with top U.S. officials, a real-life child abduction
emergency was unfolding behind the scenes.

Hours earlier, and some 230 miles away, 15-month-old Angela Chávez had been taken from her home in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, by armed criminals during a home invasion that left her parents and another adult dead.

Angela was discovered missing by her distraught grandmother, who arrived at the home with local authorities after the murders. Realizing the infant was in grave danger, officials immediately notified Yubia Yumiko Ayala Narváez, Regional Coordinator of the Gender-Based Violence Unit of the Regional de la Fiscalia del Estado de Chihuahua, or Chihuahua North Prosecutor’s Office. But like many of her colleagues in Mexico, Narváez was at the conference, organized by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT) team (based in Mexico City’s U.S. Embassy) and attended by leaders of the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP).

Even while at the event, Narváez discreetly sprang into action, issuing a regional Alerta Amber, Mexico’s version of a U.S. AMBER Alert. Posters of Angela—a cherubic girl with large brown eyes—were circulated on social media, and alerts buzzed on cellphones throughout the region.

Narváez also briefed fellow conference attendee Carlos Morales Rojas on the situation. As Alerta Amber National Coordination Liaison, Rojas works with Mexico’s 32 state AMBER Alert Coordinators while based in the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Crimes of Violence Against Women and Human Trafficking for the Fiscalía General de la República (FGR), or Office of the Attorney General.

Amid intense and hushed conversations, Narváez and Rojas exchanged information on the abduction during the conference presentations taking place. “Given the seriousness and urgency of the case, we knew we had to work quickly to activate the (national) AMBER Alert, but we also maintained a certain confidentiality of the information,” Rojas recalls.

The effort to rescue baby Angela quickly became a real-time case study that had officials drawing from a deep well of collective experience and training. “That allowed us to disseminate the alert with urgency, encouraging the media to reach as many people as possible,” Rojas says.

Several hours after the first alert was issued—and still with no sign of baby Angela—Rojas elevated the alert to the national level, an expanded presence that would no doubt heighten public awareness of the child’s case. Then, once the national AMBER Alert was activated, Rojas and Narváez informed conference attendees about the developing situation.

Fortuitously, the room was filled with experts on missing and endangered children who collaborated to ensure a swift response in the emerging case. They included: AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen; Yesenia “Jesi” Leon Baron, AATTAP’s Project Coordinator of International and Territorial Programs (including the Southern Border Initiative) and Certification Manager for Child Abduction Response Team (CART) training initiatives; and top officials with the U.S. State Department and U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, including Gigi Scoles, Gabriela Betance, Flor Reyes, and Oswaldo Casillas.

“All of them facilitated our work, allowing us to carry it out right there at the conference,” Rojas says.

Media and public response came swiftly. Kidnappers, likely aware the case was receiving national attention, abandoned Angela in a doorway in Ciudad Juarez. A woman spotted the infant and promptly called 911, helping authorities to safely recover her 30 hours after the first AMBER Alert was issued.

“Those who took baby Angela definitely felt pressure due to the wide dissemination of the AMBER Alert,” Rojas says. “They knew that many people were looking for her.”

Mexican authorities had baby Angela in their caring hands 30 hours after the first Alerta Amber wasactivated. — Mexican authorities had baby Angela in their caring hands 30 hours after the first *Alerta Amber* was activated. The toddler is now living with relatives.

With Angela’s rescue occurring on August 31—the last day of the OPDAT conference—Narváez and Rojas were offered the opportunity to present what had just unfolded as a successful case study, “one that was the result of excellent coordination between Mexican authorities and the public,” Rojas says.

“With the conference focused on sharing AMBER Alert success stories, the case of baby Angela was significant. Training is the most important aspect of our work; that’s why we constantly share our experiences.”

AMBER Alerts, along with media reports and the public’s help in searching for a missing child, are powerful tools in the effort to recover endangered missing children, as conference attendees witnessed in real time. “Without the support of our citizens, our work would essentially be futile,” Rojas says. “We would simply be spectators of what happens.”

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Photo of Dr. Noelle Hunter with her daughter, Maayimuna “Muna” — Dr. Noelle Hunter shares a happy moment with her daughter, Maayimuna “Muna.”

By Jody Garlock

Sitting in a McDonald’s restaurant in Kentucky on New Year’s Day 2011, Dr. Noelle Hunter had a sinking feeling that something was wrong. Her ex-husband was three hours late to their planned meeting spot, where he was to return their 4-year-old daughter, Maayimuna “Muna” from a holiday visit. Her maternal instinct proved to be right. She and Muna had become victims of international parental child abduction (IPCA).

It was the start of an ordeal that Dr. Hunter never could have imagined.

After the FBI was able to confirm that her ex-husband had illegally taken Muna to Mali, West Africa, Hunter thrust herself into a tireless effort to bring her daughter home. She navigated cultural nuances and complex international law, staged protests in front of embassies in Washington, D.C., pleaded with United Nations members, and worked with a congressional delegation to pressure the Mali government to return Muna. In 2014, she was finally able to bring Muna, almost 7 by that time, home safely. But Hunter never took her foot off the gas.

Dr. Noelle Hunter (at far right) walks with fellow advocates for the iStand Parent Network in Washington, D.C. — Dr. Noelle Hunter (shown far right) walks with her fellow advocates for the iStand Parent Network in Washington, D.C.

For the past decade, the mother-turned-advocate has led the iStand Parent Network, which she co-founded in February 2014 to provide resources, support, and advocacy to IPCA survivors—parents and children alike. With Muna’s help (as an iStand Youth Ambassador), she has been a champion for change to ensure other parents don’t suffer the same fate—and a support for those enduring a similar struggle. Hunter was one of eight parent co-authors of the newly updated multimedia resource, When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide.

In September 2023, the iStand Parent Network held its final annual conference and gala as the organization concluded nearly a decade of important and committed work to bring greater awareness and better understanding about the problem of IPCA, and support families impacted by it. Hunter—a clinical assistant professor at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH)—is now transitioning from advocacy work to a behind-the-scenes role in research and policy analysis through the university’s new International Child Abduction Prevention and Research Office (ICAPRO), which she spearheaded. “I’m just hard-wired to fight for children,” she says. We spoke with her about her journey—and what’s ahead.

Quote: “There are far too many parents unaware that it can happen—until it happens.” From Dr. Noelle Hunter—IPCA victim, child advocate, and professor — **>> WATCH:** To hear Dr. Hunter tell her story and share advice for the newly updated, W *hen Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide*, visit familysurvival.amberadvocate.org/video-library/ and click on “Dr. Noelle Hunter.”

How are you and Muna doing? How have you managed to move forward?

Muna is having the best year of her life. She’s 16 and a 10th-grader. She has a close friend group who shares her quirky humor and love for anime. She’s a naturally gifted visual artist, and just started her first job at a supermarket to earn her own money. Most of all, though, she is a truly gracious young lady—very kind, respectful, gentle—with a very strong sense of self. I marvel because she could justifiably be angry, non-trusting, or generally unhappy after her abduction. But she was never that way. As for me, my bedrock faith has always sustained and empowered me—first to bring Muna home, and then to help other families, and speak truth to power. It’s the simplest and greatest reason I thrive.

Did you imagine the iStand Parent Network would last a decade?

I honestly envisioned iStand enduring in perpetuity. Our motto is [the hashtag] #iStandUntilAllChildrenComeHome, so there is grief. But it was time to sunset the organization since its parent-driven engagement had decreased. It had become basically two parts—myself and Jeffery Morehouse [also a Family Survival Guide parent-author]—doing the policy work, with a few others helping. But iStand has catalyzed other organizations to form and continue the work, including iHOPE, a Lebanon-based NGO that will take it to the next level of global engagement. And most importantly, we’ve helped empower parents to bring children home. We’ve seen most elements of our 10-point vision statement come to life. So we can rest knowing that iStand has impacted generations.

What has changed with IPCA—good or bad—in the past 10 years?

We’ve seen legislation enacted, such as the Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act (aka “the Goldman Act” or ICAPRA) designed to ensure compliance with the Hague Abduction Convention, which set standards of practice between countries to resolve abductions. We’ve seen the U.S. government fully implement an abduction prevention program that includes a no-fly list for at-risk children—I’m most proud of that. We’ve also seen Congress recognize April as IPCA Awareness Month.

In 2014, Hunter, her daughter Maayimuna “Muna,” and a family friend visited U.S. Senator MitchMcConnell. McConnell was part of the Kentucky delegation Hunter worked with to secure Muna’s safe return. — In 2014, Hunter, her daughter Maayimuna “Muna,” and a family friend visited U.S. Senator Mitch
McConnell. McConnell was part of the Kentucky delegation Hunter worked with to secure Muna’s safe return.

But during the pandemic, we lost a great deal of our momentum. We also believe Congress has rested on its laurels after passing ICAPRA, not giving weighty consideration to stronger enforcement of it and other laws. And tragically, there’s been little global reform on this issue. Some nations, such as the U.K., perform relatively well, while others, such as Japan, India, and Brazil, continue to disregard the Hague treaty and international norms concerning abducted children. This is brutal policy work and we’ve been doing it from a parent-advocate prospective, which gets us only so far. It’s time to shift to a data-driven approach.

Tell us about your new research initiative at UAH.

The goal is to begin to create a body of current literature in research on IPCA. Existing research is almost 20 years old and the information is woefully out of date. We want data to illustrate the scope of the problem, the gaps in federal and international responses. We want to take what we learn from the initial research to make policy recommendations to Congress. This all came about in a beautiful way. I teach classes at UAH, and in one of them we created a IPCA think tank. Students did such a wonderful job that I asked permission to develop it into an office concept, which took a year. Our 10th point of vision with iStand was to establish an independent entity that would guide research and engagement, so this is really an evolution of that.

In May 2023, Dr. Noelle Hunter spoke before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing “Bring Abducted Children Home,” televised on C-SPAN. — >> **WATCH:** Dr. Hunter speak before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing “Bring Abducted Children Home,” **televised** in May 2023.

What do you want law enforcement to know about IPCA cases?

No. 1, it is not a civil matter. The response tends to be, “We can’t do anything unless you get a court order,” and a court order is by definition a civil matter. But a parent is not required to have a court order to report their child missing. Federal law requires the child to be immediately entered into the NCIC database. No. 2, there are other laws that require law enforcement to fulfill first-responder duties without waiting for a court order. And No. 3, consider a child to be at risk when they’ve been taken internationally, regardless of if he or she is with a parent.

What was it like being one of the parent-authors of the updated When Your Child Is Missing: Family Survival Guide?

Eye-opening and transformative. I honestly had only thought about international abductions and didn’t see the number of similarities with domestic ones. I was also truly humbled by the grace of my co-authors whose children were murdered. What magnificent valor to continue to help others after the unimaginable. I was honored to be in their company and work with them on this project—which I already know is helping people: I received a call from a parent who was going down the checklist. Our hope is for it to be a widely known go-to source—for law enforcement, attorneys, social services, child and victim advocates, and others—as the first step to empower parents on this awful journey.

What’s next for you?

Besides the work I plan to do with the new International Child Abduction Prevention and Research Office, it’s time for me to live a little. Time to rest. I haven’t stopped since 2011 when my daughter was taken. It’s time to slow down and enjoy life knowing I’ve been a good soldier. And perhaps it’s time to start writing a book of this amazing story that doesn’t seem to have an end.

IPCA Myth Busters

Dr. Noelle Hunter dispels three common myths surrounding international parental child abduction (IPCA) cases

Myth: It’s feuding parents, not criminal action, that harms children and families.
Reality: Local law enforcement initially brushed off Hunter’s abduction claim, assuming she and her ex-husband had simply had a fight that would resolve itself. “I remember the exact words from them: ‘Well, I guess he just got tired of dealing with you and took her.’ ” She urges law enforcement to take parental child abduction seriously and treat it as the criminal matter it is.

∞

Myth: Parents can just go get their child.
Reality: To get her daughter home safely, it took Hunter nearly three years of nonstop work, which involved developing a network of attorneys in both the U.S. and abroad. Despite court rulings in her favor, her ex-husband would file appeals to delay the process. Fortunately for Hunter, Muna’s return happened shortly before she turned 7—the age when a mother’s custodial rights greatly decrease in Mali. Hunter also contends that governments have been lax in enforcing the Hague Abduction Convention and holding non-compliant countries accountable.

∞

Myth: The child is fine because he/she is with the other parent.
Reality: Even if there’s no physical harm, abducted children who have their life uprooted and are forced to adapt to a different culture takes an emotional toll, Hunter says. “My daughter was in a foreign country—she didn’t know anyone.”

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After an international manhunt, five missing and endangered children from the United States have been safely recovered in Mexico and their fugitive father and his girlfriend apprehended. Edgar Salvador Casian-Garcia and Araceli Medina—formerly on the U.S. Marshals Service’s 15 Most Wanted List—were charged not only with multiple counts of child sex abuse, but also for the murder of Casian-Garcia’s son, whose remains were found near the boy’s Pacific Northwest home. An official at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), which assisted law enforcement in the search, said the fugitives’ capture is testament to the importance of collaboration and community involvement in safeguarding children.

After being kidnapped by his foster parent and her mother, a 5-year-old U.S. boy was found safe in Vietnam and returned to his biologicalmother in Washington State. Foster guardian Amanda Dinges and her mother, Amber Dinges, fled with the boy after it appeared he would soon be transitioning back to living with his birth mother. After Diplomatic Service Security personnel obtained custody of the boy at the U.S. Consulate in Hanoi, the abductors were charged with second-degree kidnapping and first-degree custodial interference. Brittany Tri, the birth mother’s attorney, said the boy is doing well; his mother is unsure how he was able to leave the U.S., since she had never applied for him to have a passport.

The sweet face of 4-year-old Aranza Maria Ochoa Lopez in a “Stay Kind” shirt served as continual motivation for U.S. authorities who worked for nearly five years to find the girl, last seen in 2018 at a Vancouver, Washington, shopping mall. Earlier this year FBI agents got the long-awaited news that Aranza had been located in western Mexico, and shortly thereafter were able to escort the now 8-year-old back home. Though the girl’s mother, who had kidnapped Aranza, was taken into custody in Mexico in 2019, Aranza had remained missing. “For more than four years, the FBI and our partners [in the U.S. and Mexico] did not give up,” said Richard A. Collodi, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Seattle field office. What the girl had experienced while missing is unclear, but “our concern now will be supporting Aranza as she begins her reintegration into the U.S.”

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On March 3, 2022, 15-year-old Arina Yatsiuk and her family were trying to evacuate from Ukraine when Russian troops killed her parents and yanked her from their car. Now, the Ukrainian teen is the face of an alarming fallout from Russia’s invasion: She’s among thousands of Ukrainian children who have vanished. Ukrainian officials believe Russia has forcibly deported children and is attempting to “Russify” them. (And Ukraine’s Children’s Rights Commissioner reports more than 16,000 known cases of children who have been forcibly deported.) Some of the children are reportedly held in camps to be politically re-educated; others are put in institutions or orphanages, or quickly adopted and given citizenship, even as relatives search for them. Ukraine’s government, which is seeking help from the international community, has secured the return of about 300 children so far. Arina’s relatives remain hopeful. “We all believe she is alive, and we will soon find her,” her aunt said. “We are considering all options, including that she might have been adopted.”

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) report that more than 90 percent of AMBER Alerts in Canada’s most populous province have resulted in the safe recovery of the missing child. The OPP has issued 21 Alerts since 2018, an average of about four a year. In noting the effectiveness of the program, the OPP credits the public with being the eyes and ears in the safe recovery of children. They also urge people to be vigilant in checking AMBER Alerts and reporting incidents, even if they may seem insignificant. “Without your help, we might be reporting very different statistics today,” a department official said.

Fourteen European organizations have teamed up on a new campaign to help stop online child sex abuse and exploitation. The “Right in Front of Us” (#ChildSafetyOn) initiative aims to spread awareness of and seek support for legislation that would bring accountability to large tech companies such as Meta, Google, and TikTok. Under a new law the European Union is considering, the tech companies would be required to identify, remove, and report any child sexual abuse material on their platforms. “The proposed legislation is necessary and urgent to prevent and combat child sexual exploitation such as grooming,” said Anna Maria Corazza Bildt, president of Missing Children Europe. In addition to working with teachers and educators to strengthen the message, the campaign includes a website (childsafetyineurope.com) with videos and a petition supporting the proposed legislation.

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By Denise Gee Peacock

The AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) joined regional partners from Virginia and New York to discuss AMBER Alert best practices with child protection/law enforcement delegations from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia on June 12, 2023, in Washington, DC.

During the meeting, held at the U.S. Department of State, the AATTAP team discussed the history and effectiveness of the nation's AMBER Alert plans. Those in attendance were Janell Rasmussen, Program Administrator; Jenniffer Price-Lehmann, Program Manager; and Yesenia “Jesi” Leon-Baron, Project Coordinator for International and Territorial Programs.

Additionally, Virginia State Police AMBER Alert Coordinators Sergeant Connie Brooks and Lieutenant Robbie Goodrich outlined how their state AMBER Alert activations are decided and disseminated. Also, New York State Police AMBER Alert Coordinator Erika Hock, New York State Missing Persons Clearinghouse (NYSMPC) Manager Cindy Neff and NYSMPC Investigative Supervisor Timothy Williams appeared virtually to discuss their state’s AMBER Alert system and training/technology requirements.

The U.S.-based AMBER Alert experts answered numerous questions from the delegations, which were especially interested in each state’s activation criteria, processes and protocols, and the technology used to alert the public in various formats/locations. Both states also shared their AMBER Alert plan’s documentation and related checklists, while the AATTAP provided numerous foundational resources.

Representing the Republic of Serbia were members of its Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) Affairs; Ministry of the Interior; and the Center for Missing and Abused Children from the Republic of Serbia, a non-governmental organization.

The Bosnia-Herzegovina delegation included representatives from the Ministries of the Interior in several districts; the Ministry of Security; the IFS Emmaus Center for Safe Internet; and the country’s INL program officer.

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In the past two years, five volunteer activists in Mexico who have frantically searched for their missing “disappeared” (and presumed murdered) children have themselves been murdered. The news has gotten little attention. With more than 100,000 missing people in Mexico, experts say police often lack the time, expertise, or interest to look for the clandestine grave sites where narco-gangs frequently bury the victims. And so, volunteers—many of them relatives of the missing—do the searching themselves. Unfortunately, Maria Vázquez Ramírez, is the latest victim. She was killed while searching for her son, Osmar. In response, the Movement for our Disappeared in Mexico group, which supports the volunteer searchers, decried the act as “cowardly”—releasing a photo of Maria with her missing son with the words, “I didn’t live long enough to find you.” The group demands Mexico do more to search for all the missing, saying, “Violence against searchers shouldn’t be the norm.”

On November 20, 2022—World Children’s Day—Sakarya University’s Diaspora Research Center in Turkey reported that the number of cases involving missing migrant children in Europe is skyrocketing. According to their 2021 “Lost in Europe” report, more than 18,000 migrant children went missing in Europe between 2018 and 2020—an average of 17 refugee children each day. European authorities are banding together to try and stem this tide. The sad reality behind the high numbers of missing is that criminal organizations target refugee children in Europe and ensnare them in sex trafficking and forced begging.

The group Missing Children Europe was founded in 2001 to protect children from becoming missing. The group coordinates a vast network of missing children hotlines and cross-border family mediators throughout Europe. The group recently celebrated its 20^th anniversary at a celebrity-studded event. But the event’s main goal was to highlight the fact that since the launch of its hotlines in 2007, operators across Europe have answered more than two million calls and supported more than 70,000 cases involving missing children. Those numbers were tempered by this equally stark reality: “The war on Ukraine and the expansion of the internet with both its opportunities and risks of harm for children are just two of the more recent challenges that need tackling,” Missing Children Europe said. The organization plans to continue better protecting and empowering at-risk children through research, advocacy, training, and education.

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From Staff Reports

AATTAP team members visited Puerto Rico in January to conduct “Rescue, Recovery, and Reunification” field-training exercises for Child Abduction Response Teams (CART) and other members of law enforcement.

“The CART training was a success, and for the first time ever we had a member of Congress at our training,” said AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen.

Congresswoman Jenniffer González-Colón of Puerto Rico

Congresswoman Jenniffer González-Colón told the large crowd in attendance, “I’d like to thank the National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College and the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program for their help. They visited last November and were eager to offer training in Puerto Rico, where law enforcement officers are always ready when it comes to helping our kids.”

To see related video and photos from the event, visit bit.ly/PRaattap.

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Families in the United Kingdom have a new resource to help them deal with all the issues they need to face when a family member goes missing. The Missing Persons Information Hub provides information and organizations that can help families with a missing loved one. Missing persons expert Charlie Hedges created the website and has received support from AMBER Alert Europe, the Alzheimer’s Society, several universities, and other missing person organizations. Hedges said he wanted to offer something simple for families in crisis. Though he has been dedicated to missing persons work for more than 25 years, “due to its complexities, I still find it hard to find what I am looking for,” he explained.

Nigeria is now using the social media reach of Facebook to curb online child trafficking and the buying and selling of children. The African country is working with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to utilize Facebook for protecting children, including posting AMBER Alerts. “Over 40 percent of victims are now recruited online, and this has raised concerns considering the impact of the social media on our children,” said Amarachi Kene-Okafor with the Network Against Child Trafficking, Abuse and Labour.

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After the AMBER Alert became widespread, pictures of missing children no longer appeared on milk cartons. Now a London-based charity, Missing People, is taking the effort a step forward by using digital billboards with 3D portraits of missing children. The pictures look “live” with blinking eyes and tilting heads. The billboards have a QR code to help spread the image and information on social media. The signs also use the words “help find” instead of “missing” because behavioral scientists say this will give the public a call to action.

AMBER Alert Europe has launched a worldwide campaign to urge people to stop sharing naked images. The campaign addresses the dangers minors face when sharing self-generated naked images, otherwise known as “nudes.” The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) found a dramatic 77% rise in self-generated naked teen pictures shared online since 2019, and that one in three teenagers have admitted to seeing non-consensually shared nudes. “These kinds of self-generated images can have far-reaching consequences on (a teen’s) health and wellbeing; and once shared, could also lead to sexual extortion and coercion – even criminal charges,” said AMBER Alert Europe Chairman Frank Hoe. The campaign’s video and posters are being shared in 27 countries.

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More than 60 British university students joined Australia’s Murdoch University and police agencies from 14 countries to work on six cold cases involving missing children and child homicides. The four-month effort was part of the third International Cold Case Analysis Project (ICCAP). The students’ findings led detectives to further investigate one of the cases; and last year, the project prompted investigators to exhume the body of “Gentleman John Doe” – helping identify an unknown man buried 30 years ago.

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The Dutch National Police agreed to continue using AMBER Alerts after earlier announcing it would use another alerting system. In April 2021, Netherlands was going to switch to using the Burgernet system for child abduction alerts. In September, the Dutch National Police signed an agreement to take over issuing the alerts from AMBER Alert in Europe. Netherlands was an early adopter of AMBER Alerts in 2008 and has pioneered innovative ways to notify the public about abducted children. The Dutch AMBER Alert system has been deployed 1042 times. In 94% of the cases, the child was found alive and well.

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A majority of parliamentary members in the Netherlands support keeping AMBER Alerts for child abduction notifications instead of adopting a new program called the Burgernet system. The lawmakers passed a motion in June 2021 to stop the change scheduled for July 22. Burgernet is being used by local police for suspects wanted in urgent criminal investigations and government officials say it is cheaper than the AMBER Alert program.

“AMBER Alert has been a success for years. It has enormous reach, great results and works internationally. There’s no reason to throw it away so abruptly,” said Joost Eerdmans, co-sponsor of the motion.

Thousands of Alberta, Canada, residents are speaking out against using the emergency alert for COVID-19 health measures because it may cause people to stop paying attention to other emergencies like AMBER Alerts.

“I totally thought it was an AMBER Alert, I was panicked for whatever child was in danger and that was kind of my initial reaction to it,” said Kimberly Roy.

Government officials say the alerts are needed to prevent further spread of the virus during the worst pandemic in this lifetime.

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Law enforcement authorities in the Netherlands plan to replace AMBER Alert and Missing Child Alert notifications in July with a separate citizen warning system called Burgernet. Minister of Justice and Security Ferd Grapperhaus said the change will create a more coherent, centralized service for warnings about criminal suspects as well as missing adults and children.

AMBER Alert Europe President and Founder Frank Hoen believes the switch is a mistake. “When the term ‘AMBER Alert’ is mentioned people know that a missing child is in danger,” he said. “We are gravely worried that with the disappearance of the AMBER Alert, the collaboration between the public and the police will also vanish.”

AMBER Alert Netherlands estimates 95 percent of the Dutch public knows about the purpose of the AMBER Alert. Since November 2008, the Netherlands issued 30 AMBER Alerts and 1,010 Missing Child Alerts. The missing children were found safe in 94 percent of cases, often with the assistance of the public.

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police is endorsing a new search network to help in high-risk missing children investigations. The Missing Children Society of Canada’s (MCSC) Child Search Network provides police with the ability to share information and collaborate with one another and the public to help find high-risk missing children who do not meet the AMBER Alert criteria. The system has a database with real-time details about missing children cases. A date for release of the network is pending.

The International Cold Case Analysis Project is teaming up with the Police Expert Network on Missing Persons (PEN-MP) of AMBER Alert Europe. The collaboration will also include Locate International, the Police Academy of Lower Saxony, and several British and Australian Universities. The project enables young police officers and students to establish a close link between theory and practice in cold cases. The goal is to help families across Europe find closure after the disappearance of a loved one. The project has already help bring in leads about a 1991 murder in Germany.

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The Canadian Emergency Alert System was tested again on November 25, 2020, to make sure the emergency alerts are effectively reaching cellphones, radio, and TV stations. Past tests have revealed technical issues that led to notification delays. Authorities are still working to make sure the system is compatible with different networks and cell towers. The Alert Ready system has been used more than 170 times since it was launched on January 1, 2020, and its notifications can be sent by emergency management officials, warning of severe weather or when there is an imminent threat to life. The alerts have been valuable in warning the public and have also prompted the public to provide tips.

The Ontario Provincial Police have also begun using Alert Ready to keep residents safe and notify the public about AMBER Alerts. The system has been used four times in Ontario since July 2020.

The Police Expert Network on Missing Persons (PEN-MP) in Europe has grown to include more than 80 members in 30 countries. The network is part of AMBER Alert Europe and recently added eight new law enforcement members from Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, North-Macedonia, and Serbia. The PEN-MP is the official European missing persons police network, consisting of police experts in the field of missing persons.

The PEN-MP is also connecting organizations in different countries on a project to analyze cold- and long-term missing persons cases. The network will work with different police academies and universities all over the world. Four disciplinary teams are now analyzing an attempted child homicide and long-term missing person’s case in Germany. More cases are expected to be analyzed in 2021.

Slovenia hosted a digital conference on missing persons cases for PEN-MP officers on November 3, 2020. Law enforcement officers shared a missing person case in Poland and offered insight on the correlation between online grooming and missing children.

Organizers hope the event will help different European countries to better connect when a missing person case crosses national boundaries. “We all know that law enforcement cooperation is of the utmost importance when it comes to missing person cases, not only nationally but also across borders,” said Mr. Jože Senica, Deputy Director General of the Slovenian National Police.

AMBER Alert Europe is now partnering with the WePROTECT Global Alliance, an international organization working to stop child sexual abuse and exploitation. The partnership follows up AMBER Alert Europe’s 2020 #DontBeAnEasyCatch campaign, which warned children about online grooming. “Awareness of online child sexual abuse and exploitation is still lacking. With this partnership, we can strengthen the efforts to better protect children in Europe,” said Frank Hoen, Chairman and Founder, AMBER Alert Europe.

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AMBER Alert Europe marked a number of important milestones for its goal of #ZeroMissingKids in its annual report for 2019. The highlights include:

The organization’s Police Expert Network on Missing Persons (PEN-MP) was officially recognized by all member states of the European Union.
PEN-MP appointed Damjan Miklič with the Slovenian Police Directorate as the new president representing the 60 police experts from 16 countries.
The ‘Stay Safe With Simon’ campaign was launched to teach children how to protect themselves from being abducted.

AMBER Alert Europe also started partnerships with national police forces of Sweden, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Lithuania, as well as with missing persons organizations in the UK and Spain. The full report can be found here.

AMBER Alert Europe now has 38 official organizations representing 23 countries after welcoming four new organizations into the fold during the summer of 2020. The following are the newest members:

Fundación ANAR is a non-profit that promotes children’s rights in Spain and Latin America. The organization has been managing the European hotline number for missing children in Spain since 2010. https://www.amberalert.eu/fundacion-anar/
NGO Instituto de Apoio à Criança has been defending children’s rights since 1983. The non-profit has been operating the missing children hotline for Portugal since 2004. https://www.amberalert.eu/iac/
Child Rights Centre Albania is a non-governmental organization that was established in 1997 to improve children’s rights in Albania. https://www.amberalert.eu/crca/
The Greek Safer Internet Center was launched in 2016 to promote internet safety for children. The organization teamed up with AMBER Alert Europe on the #DontBeAnEasyCatch prevention campaign. https://www.amberalert.eu/greek_safer_internet_center/

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AMBER Alert Europe has partnered with a technology company for AMBER Alerts to be seen on 23,000 ATM screens across Europe, with the potential of being viewed by millions of users and others passing by. The concept began in the Netherlands with Euronet Worldwide in the summer of 2019. “This partnership will significantly increase the amount of exposure that missing children will receive,” said Frank Hoen, AMBER Alert Europe Chairman and Founder. “I am certain this will save children’s lives in the future.”

A couple was arrested after the Attorney General of Mexico City offered a 2 million peso reward (approximately $80,000 USD) for information leading to the capture of the people involved with kidnapping and killing a 7-year-old girl.

A woman picked up the girl from her elementary school on February 11, 2020, and said she was going to take her home. Surveillance video shows the woman and girl walking down the street. Five days later the child was found deceased in a garbage bag.

Police say the woman gave the girl as a “gift” to her abusive husband. The child was killed when the husband saw a TV report of her disappearance and the active police search. An autopsy revealed the child had been sexually assaulted before her death. The Mexican Public Ministry is seeking the maximum penalty for both the abductor and the murderer, a sentence of 70 years each.

The southeastern European country of Bosnia-Herzegovina is now part of the continent’s child abduction alert program. The country is the 21st to join AMBER Alert Europe, which now has 34 participating organizations. “By joining we want to contribute to quickly and successfully solving missing children cases through cooperation with colleagues from other countries,” said Mirsad Vilić, Director for Coordination for Police Bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The country is also joining the Police Expert Network on Missing Persons, a network that allows law enforcement to quickly consult with members in other countries on missing persons.

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The Lithuanian National Police officially joined AMBER Alert Europe and will now issue alerts in child abduction cases. On October 10, 2019, Lithuania joined 21 countries with 33 organizations using the tools and methods of the AMBER Alert program. “(This) enables us to spread information about these cases all over Europe, while learning about the latest technologies in the search for missing persons. All of the above, will highly contribute to finding missing children,” said Irena Ambrasaite, Chief Specialist at the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau.

All members of the European Union (EU) are officially recognizing the Police Expert Network on Missing Persons as the first and only law enforcement network for AMBER Alerts. At a meeting on October 18, 2019, a body of the Council of the EU identified the group as the single point of contact for missing person specialists for 21 EU countries. “Through the network, police officers across Europe know exactly who they should (contact) in another country at 3 a.m.,” said Frank Hoen, AMBER Alert Europe Chairman.

Some Canadian jurisdictions are not interested in creating a national Silver Alert program for persons with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. The Alzheimer’s Society of Canada (ASC) also opposes the idea. “We aren’t endorsing them because there isn’t robust evidence that they actually work,” said Mary Schulz, ASC Director of Education. Silver Alert advocates say the system could be a lifesaver for missing seniors.

Bill VanGorder, spokesperson for the Canadian Association of Retired People (CARP) Nova Scotia said the alerts reinforce stereotypes. “We certainly don’t like the idea of suggesting that if you’re silver-haired, as I am, then somehow I’m going to automatically be prone to wander.” In 2017, Alberta and Manitoba amended their Missing Persons Act to allow for Silver Alerts. However, Alberta has yet to issue a Silver Alert.

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The Bahamas now has the MARCO Alert, a child abduction alert system patterned after the AMBER Alert. Government and law enforcement leaders gathered on August 21, 2019, for a signing ceremony for the new law. The alert is named for Marco Archer who went missing in 2011 and was later found dead. The MARCO Alert will notify law enforcement and the public through traditional and social media. Minister of National Security Marvin Dames noted that the following day, August 22, was Marco’s birthday and he would have turned 19-years-old. “He once indicated to his mother that he wanted to be a policeman to arrest the ‘bad guys’,” Minister Dames shared. “While Marco may never suit up in a uniform, Marco’s Law and Marco’s Alert, both named in his honor, will ensure that he will always play a critical role in assisting the police in arresting the bad guys.”

The Brisbane, Australia, City Council started a partnership with the Outdoor Media Association (OMA) to begin posting AMBER Alerts on outdoor signs. The digital signs will post the abducted child’s photo and other information within 30 minutes after an AMBER Alert is issued. “We hope the Brisbane Amber Alerts pilot program will inform how we can build a system to roll out Amber Alerts across Australia,” said Charmaine Moldrich, OMA CEO. The OMA is working with the Out of Home Advertising Association of America and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the United States on the pilot program.

More than 40 law enforcement officers from 16 countries gathered in Prague for the second European Expert Network on Missing Children Forum. The training held September 4-6, 2019, included real-life missing person cases to learn about the best practices for safely recovering missing and abducted children. “When a child goes missing and they need support from colleagues in another country, they will know exactly who to call at 3 a.m. in the morning,” said Frank Hoen, Chairman and Founder of AMBER Alert Europe. “This will highly contribute to saving more missing children, which of course is our ultimate goal.”

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The disappearance of 11-year-old Madeleine McCann in 2007 from Algarve, Portugal, garnered international attention and eventually became the catalyst for AMBER Alert programs and additional resources to find missing and abducted children in Europe.

The case is the subject of a new Netflix series “The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann.” The missing girl’s mother, Kate McCann, also wrote a book detailing her efforts to get better alert systems for missing children in Europe. “It was clear to Gerry and me that if such a procedure had been in use in Portugal, Madeleine might have been swiftly tracked down,” wrote McCann.

Canadian authorities tested the official emergency alert system on May 8, 2019, to make sure the loud notification tone and messages reached all cell phones. The emergency alerts are overseen by Alert Ready. Two earlier alerts went out at night, prompting a backlash from some Canadians who were wakened by the loud tones.

Ontario police are still asking the public to stop calling 911 to complain about receiving AMBER Alerts after an alert was issued in May and another one in July for two children believed to have been abducted.

One woman launched a campaign to fine people who call 911 to complain about AMBER Alerts. Dalia Monacelli is hoping her Change.org petition will convince the Ontario attorney general to levy fines against the complainers. “People have to understand that when they dial 911, they are taking time and personnel away from actual emergencies and that these actions could cost lives,” wrote Monacelli. More than 100,000 people signed the petition as of August 8, 2019.

Golden Casket, the company overseeing some of Australia’s lotteries, has pledged $300,000 to an organization working to keep children safe. The Daniel Morcombe Foundation supports the country’s AMBER Alert programs, provides assistance to crime victims and supports families of missing persons.

The foundation was created in 2005 by Bruce and Denise Morcombe after their 13-year-old son Daniel was abducted in 2003. Golden Casket also broadcasts information about missing and abducted children at 900 outlets in Queensland. The latest donation is funded by unclaimed lottery money.

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The Argentina government started a child abduction alert program on March 22 called “Alerta Sofia.” The system uses Facebook to disseminate alerts on cellphones for children under the age of 18 who are believed to be in imminent danger. The alert is named after Sofia Herrera, who was last seen on September 28, 2008. “I’m excited the alert has my daughter’s name,” said Maria Elena Delgado, Sofia’s mother. “It is a very important tool for the country.” The International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children provided support for developing Sofia Alerta. Argentinians can push one button to share the alert and another button to receive more information.

One AMBER Alert in Ottawa and another in Toronto prompted hundreds of 911 calls from residents angry about being disturbed by the alerts. Police in both cities urged citizens to stop tying up the emergency lines to make complaints. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau even issued a statement supporting AMBER Alerts to protect the safety of children.

Police in Ottawa sent an AMBER Alert at 11:30 p.m. on February 14 for an 11-year-old girl who was later found murdered. Residents called 911 and posted on social media how upset they were because the alert disturbed their sleep. A citizen tip helped police to capture the suspect. Most of the complaints were deleted from social media after numerous residents said they should be ashamed of themselves. “Losing a few minutes of sleep is nothing compared to the hell this family and those trying to help had to go through,” wrote one person.

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The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) is now using a global platform that combines artificial intelligence (AI) and digital advertising to locate missing and abducted children. THE GMCNgine™ uses geo-targeting and dynamic ad technology to get missing children alerts to the right communities quickly. The system also uses AI to scan millions of images on the web to locate pictures that resemble missing children. “The GMCNgine™ sparks global change in missing child investigations,” said Maura Harty, President and Chief Executive Officer for ICMEC. The tool will be used in 29 countries.

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Ecuador says it has become the first South American country to have an alert for children who have been abducted or are believed to be in immediate danger. The Alert Emilia is named after a nine-year-old girl who was abducted and murdered in 2017 by human traffickers. “In Ecuador the AMBER Alert will be called Alert Emilia, in memory of Emilia Benavides, whose death marked a pattern to strengthen these actions with a state policy that involves the whole society,” said César Navas, Ecuador Minister of the Interior. The alert will send information and images of the missing child through television, email and social networks. The International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) will include Ecuador as the 28th member country of its Global Network of Missing Children.

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The Bahamas started a pilot child abduction alert program in July 2018, similar to the U.S. AMBER Alert. The country is calling the notifications “Marco’s Alert,” after 11-year-old Marco Archer who disappeared and was later found dead in 2011. The public has to opt-in to receive the alert but police can decide if the situation is so critical that a message will be sent to everyone regardless of opting in. The alerts can be sent by phone, email, pager, fax, computer pop up screens and social media.

An Australian scholar is urging the government to create a public notification system similar to Silver Alerts used in the U.S. to help find lost people with dementia. Dr. Margie MacAndrew conducted a study about missing persons with dementia. “Wandering can result in potentially life-threatening outcomes such as malnutrition, increased risk of falls, injury, exhaustion, hypothermia, becoming lost, and death,” she said. “Rapid reporting within one hour of knowing a person is missing is also known to help search and rescue have a better chance of finding a person alive and well.

AMBER Alert Europe officials visited the French Judicial Police headquarters on June 25, 2018, to gain a better understanding of the development of France’s missing child system. The meeting was also used to enhance cooperation between AMBER Alert Europe and the French specialized missing persons police unit. France was the first country to have a missing child notification system that disseminates information to TV, radio, highway signs, railway stations, social media and websites. The ‘Alerte Enlèvement’ has been used 22 times in France and has resulted in the successfully recovery of all missing children for which the alerts were issued.

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Peru has launched an AMBER Alert system to help find missing and abducted children immediately after police are notified of their disappearance. Under the previous law, police had to wait 24 hours before they began looking for a missing child. Peru Minister Board President César Villanueva said he will also increase the number of emergency centers from 50 to 225 to better assist victims of sexual or gender-crimes. He is also increasing the number of municipal departments for children and teenagers. “One of our government’s main priorities is the protection of women and children against all types of violence,” stated Villanueva. “We cannot accept that this type of violence is still being tolerated by our society and by our public organizations.”

Lithuania is the first Nordic country and the 19th member of the European Union to implement an AMBER Alert system. Lithuania began the abducted child alert system on March 14, 2018, to help recover missing and abducted children. The program alerts law enforcement and sends photos and information about the missing child to all Facebook users within 200 kilometers from where the child was last located. Belgium, Cyprus, The Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and the United Kingdom already have a national child alert system in place. Bulgaria also launched its national AMBER Alert program earlier this year.

Canada tested its new emergency alert system on May 14, 2014. The system sends messages, including AMBER Alerts, to all cell phones in the country. The Alert Ready system is similar to the U.S. Wireless Emergency Alert system. Testing identified a glitch of sorts, as some people thought an actual AMBER Alert had been issued and some areas did not receive an alert sound. “The review ultimately determined there was a gap created during a recent server migration,” said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Staff Sgt. Annie Linetau. “The test allowed us to identify a few issues, correct them, as well as implement a back-up system.”

While holding a cell phone when driving is illegal in most parts of Canada, the law does recognize the new Alert Ready system, allowing drivers to use their cell phones when alerts are issued. Most provincial laws currently allow drivers to use their cell phones to contact emergency services or to learn about an emergency in the driver’s vicinity.

AMBER Alert Europe launched an educational campaign on Missing Children’s Day, May 25, 2018, to teach children how to protect themselves when they are lost or abducted. The campaign included a coloring book that helps children learn how to get from home to school and back safely. An animated video was also made available to instruct parents what to do if their child is missing. The prevention campaign was shared by police in Slovenia, France, Slovakia, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Poland and The Czech Republic.

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Since 2007, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) has served as an international point-of-contact, providing technical assistant to countries for the development of Rapid Emergency Child Alert Systems. Since 2016, ICMEC has partnered with Facebook to assist in spreading AMBER Alerts on its social media platform.

As of May 2018, the following countries have joined the United States in providing an emergency child alert system for their citizens:

Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Malaysia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan (Province of China), and the United Kingdom

To assist countries in their development, ICMEC has created a Framework outlining the main components necessary for an alert.

View the Rapid Emergency Child Alert Framework

Learn more at: https://www.icmec.org/global-missing-childrens-center/

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AMBER Alert Europe launched a task force on January 29, 2018, with a mission for saving missing children. The task force includes experts from the Czech Republic, Malta, Poland and the Netherlands. The task force provides a way to share information and best practices, network with colleagues across Europe and learn how to enhance their AMBER Alert systems.

“When a child goes missing, an AMBER Alert system connects police with the public through technology,” said Frank Hoen, founder of AMBER Alert Europe. “Since technology evolves so quickly, it is crucial that police keep up with the latest technological developments.”

European law enforcement officials brought home 93 percent of the children safely after issuing AMBER Alerts in 2017. AMBER Alerts were issued 27 times for 31 children.

The success stories include the Netherlands’ recovery of a 15-year-old deaf and autistic boy after an AMBER Alert was issued. Police believed he was in imminent danger due to weather conditions. More than 12 million Dutch citizens responded to the alert. A crucial tip helped reunite the boy with his family.

The Czech Republic issued an AMBER Alert for a two-year-old girl who had been missing for two months. The girl’s mother abducted the child but turned herself into police after the alert was issued. The child was found in good health.

The Cayman Islands government is creating an emergency alert system that will include AMBER Alerts. The British territory is located in the western Caribbean Sea. The notification system would send messages to all smartphone users, radio, TV and cable television programs. The system is expected to cost $1 million to implement. The Cayman Islands initially tried a basic SMS text message system for sending emergency alerts, but that method proved to be ineffective during a tsunami-exercise last year.

The AMBER Alert Europe Police Network now has more than 50 law enforcement experts from 17 countries to help find missing and abducted children. The network was established in 2014 to assist law enforcement officers in quickly contacting and consulting with each other on missing child cases. These contacts are crucial, as 37.5 percent of Europeans live near bordering areas and a missing child can easily cross to a neighboring country. Because of the network, police experts can easily find and maintain information on a single point-of-contact for missing persons in another country.

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Members of AMBER Alert Europe are asking the European Parliament to list all missing children on the continent’s notification system. Currently the notices only go out if the person has been placed under protection or to prevent threats. The Schengen Information System (SIS) is used to send messages in 29 countries throughout Europe. “At least 250,000 children are reported missing every year in the European Union,” said Frank Hoen, President of AMBER Alert Europe. “We urge MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) to adopt a position that ensures that all missing children at risk may be entered in SIS at the request of the competent authorities.”

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A British Columbia social worker is hoping Canada will create a new alert for missing at-risk children that do not fit the criteria for an AMBER Alert. Patricia McDonald says an “Alex Alert” is needed to prevent what happened to Alexandra Radita 4 years ago. The 15-year-old boy weighed only 37 pounds and was covered in bedsores and infections after a judge returned him to his parents. Emil and Rodica Radita were found guilty of first degree murder for starving and neglecting their son. McDonald would like an alert that can be issued to authorities across provinces to assist in locating and rescuing at-risk children who disappear.

The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) continues to work with countries around the world to make sure AMBER Alerts work and missing and abducted children come home safely. In 2015, ICMEC released the Model Missing Child Framework, which outlines 12 key criteria countries should consider when developing a national strategy/response for missing children. The framework assists countries with building strong, well-rounded national responses, and to facilitate more efficient investigations, management and resolution of missing children cases.

ICMEC and AMBER Alert Europe co-authored and published the Rapid Emergency Child Alert System Framework in 2016. This year ICMEC released Photo Distribution Framework, which offers a strategy for photo distribution to stakeholders, media and the public in the search for a missing child. The document also clarifies the differences between a photo distribution strategy and an AMBER Alert system. AMBER Alert Europe has also created Understanding and Managing Risk in the Context of Missing Persons, an extensive review of the difficulty of determining risk and different elements to consider in a missing person case.

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Representatives from the U.S., Canada and Mexico are working to make sure the AMBER Alert systems in their countries and bordering areas work seamlessly when cross-border child abduction cases occur. The 2017 AMBER Alert Symposium included a panel discussion about what is being done to return abducted children who are taken across a national border.

Blanca Margarita Niebla Cárdenas is the director of the National AMBER Alert program in Mexico. She worked with the AATTAP Southern Border Initiative to start the child abduction alert in Mexico in 2012. She said AMBER Alerts are saving lives in Mexico because everyone cooperates.

“We try to create an AMBER Alert culture so it is contagious and everyone is involved in finding children,” said Cardenas. “We are committed to families who are suffering because their child is missing.”

Mexico issues local, regional and national AMBER Alerts. The one noticeable difference in Mexico’s program is that AMBER Alerts are issued only for children under age 16.

Canada has had AMBER Alert programs in all of its provinces since 2002. In 2009, Canada created a national AMBER Alert working group to provide more coordination, training and technology for all agencies. A protocol was also created to work with all U.S. border-states.

Julie Morel is a Royal Canadian Mounted Police Corporal with the National Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains Division. She would like to streamline the process when Canada contacts the U.S. about a cross-border child abduction case. “We are working to have a better system so we have a one-stop number for Canada available, so these lead agencies can be more closely involved.”

Maranda Everson, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Border Patrol Agent, agreed cooperation with Canada and Mexico is key to resolving child abduction cases quickly. She said her Mexican and Canadian counterparts have been great at inspecting all vehicles entering and leaving the country.

Stacy Pearson is the Louisiana Missing Persons Clearing House Manager and AMBER Alert Coordinator. Even though Louisiana is not a border state, she said she has had numerous missing person cases from Canada - even though the state is closer to Mexico. “We do not pay attention to borders,” said Pearson, emphasizing that all cases are given swift attention. “We are all going to work together and establish our own recovery railroad to return children home.”

INTERNATIONAL PARENTAL ABDUCTIONS

More parents kidnap their children from the U.S. than any other country in the world, according to Anna McGahuey, an officer with the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Children’s Issues. The State Department received reports of 446 parental abductions involving 629 children during 2016; yet McGahuey believes the number is much higher.

“That is a lot of children but it is likely two or three times that many because parents do not know about us,” said McGahuey.

The U.S. and 82 other countries follows the Hague Convention’s standards of practices for custody cases. McGahuey spoke about the important features of the Hague Convention, noting rules recognizing the child’s habitual residence rather than a sole focus on citizenship.

“If a non-documented person calls our office we will help them,” she said. “In this office, citizenship is blind. Whatever works to recover the child is important to me.”

REACTION FROM INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPANTS

AMBER Alert partners from Canada and Mexico said the symposium offered an invaluable experience. Winnipeg Police Service Sergeant Darryl Ramkissoon said he will take valuable lessons home. “I would like to build a better working relationship with other organizations in Canada,” he said. “We need to break down the borders like the U.S. has done in their states.”

Andrea Scott is a Detective and also works for the Winnipeg Police Service. “It is great to learn we all have similar issues but that we are all working together with the same goal, which is bringing kids home and preventing them from going missing.”

Blanca Margarita Niebla Cárdenas said the symposium was a very important way to meet with her counterparts in the other countries. “My objective is that we have a clear path to communicate with the U.S. and Canada,” said Cardenas. “We want to work like there are no borders.”

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Nine European countries have signed an agreement to work closely together to help find missing children taken across national borders. The joint declaration was signed in November 2016 by Ministers of Interior Affairs from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

“When a child goes missing, quick and effective cross-border information exchange between national law enforcement authorities and other expert bodies is therefore crucial,” said Milan Chovanec, Minister of the Interior of the Czech Republic. “Since every endangered missing child deserves an equal chance of being found as quickly as possible, this must not be inhibited by them crossing borders.”

AMBER Alert Europe was involved with the agreement, which includes law enforcement agencies from each country sharing more information, while also seeking public assistance across countries to help find missing children.

A group of 35 German members of the European parliament are calling upon all European countries to have an AMBER Alert program. Currently, 17 of the 28 countries of the European Union have child abduction alert plans.

“To save missing children it is crucial to act immediately, every minute counts,” said German Parliament Member Bernd Kölmel. “German citizens need to be informed as soon as possible via all available media. It is absolutely necessary that Germany builds a modern, digital AMBER Alert system.”

So far just 8 European countries have issued at least one an AMBER Alert.

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Janet Turnbull is doing her best to make sure borders never get in the way of finding an abducted child. Since 2013 she has been working in Mexico City, Mexico, as a legal advisor for the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development and Training (OPDAT). Her focus is on human trafficking, which puts her at the center of making sure AMBER Alerts work in all countries.

“When a child goes missing across the border we do not want to think that is the end of the effort,” said Turnbull. “The challenge is there is not a lot of communication between the AMBER Alert coordinators in the U.S. and in Mexico.”

In May, Turnbull worked with the U.S. AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program and its Southern Border Initiative to organize the Trinational Forum in Mexico City. The 2-day forum included AMBER Alert Coordinators from the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Turnbull is also supported by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, with funding from the Merida Initiative.

“What we are going for is to get AMBER Alert coordinators in Mexico, U.S.A. and Canada to see themselves as a single group of North American AMBER Alert coordinators. No borders,” said Turnbull.

At the time of the forum, investigations remained open for 75 children taken from the U.S. to Mexico, and 183 children taken from Mexico to the U.S.

The AMBER Alert began locally in the U.S. in 1996 and later developed into a nationwide initiative. Mexico’s Alerta AMBER began in 2012 when it was launched by that country’s president and attorney general. So far the Alerta AMBER has led to the safe recovery of more than 350 children in Mexico.

“One is not better but they are slightly different,” said Turnbull. “We want the training to be consistent in the U.S .and Mexico and knowing the differences between each system. Training keeps everyone on the same sheet of music. It also helps people make a connection.”

Turnbull said Mexico coordinators still rely heavily on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to confirm the right jurisdiction(s) in which to issue an AMBER Alert in the U.S. NCMEC can be reached by calling 800-THE-LOST (800-843-5678).

She said it is easier for U.S. law enforcement to use Mexico’s child abduction alert because it can be done with one contact with the National Mexico Alerta AMBER Coordinator Blanca Margarita Niebla Cárdenas at 011-521-555-346-2510 or via email at [email protected]. “It is one call shopping for them,” she noted.

Turnbull’s career began as a Special Agent for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Her investigation into drug smuggling in Columbia even uncovered an unfinished submarine in Bogota. She then got her law degree at the University Of Virginia School Of Law and began prosecuting drug traffickers and corruption cases involving public officials and police officers.

Today, Turnbull is immersed in finding trafficking victims and abducted children. This year she has been involved with solving cross-border abductions including a Florida girl found in Cancun, a baby taken from San Diego, California, to Sinaloa, Mexico, and a Brownsville, Texas, girl who was recovered after Mexico issued an Alerta AMBER at the request of U.S. authorities. All 3 cases illustrate that much can be accomplished when countries work together.

“Do not give up just because the child has gone across the border,” said Turnbull. “There are things that can be done to bring a child home.”

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Yesenia “Jesi” Leon-Baron
Project Coordinator
AATTAP International
and Territorial Programs