AMBER Advocate Magazine

Issue 22

The Family Roundtable brings together parents, siblings, and survivors of child abductions to share their experiences and offer guidance to law enforcement and media representatives. Participants discuss the emotional toll on families and stress the importance of keeping them informed and protecting their homes as places of refuge. In a profile, Kristina Bomba, Colorado’s AMBER Alert Coordinator, shares her experience launching one of the nation’s first statewide alert systems and working with broadcasters and law enforcement to clarify roles and build a strong alert distribution network. A front-line story from Tennessee highlights how three truckers respond to an AMBER Alert displayed on an electronic highway sign, box in the suspect’s vehicle, and help safely recover a 2-year-old boy. At the Indian Country meeting in Jacksonville, Florida, officials address the “epidemic” of missing and runaway Native American children, emphasizing the dangers of violence, sexual assault, and trafficking. The meeting promotes a team-based approach using Child Abduction Response Teams (CART) and Multi-Disciplinary Teams (MDT). The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) launches a new website to help the public report tips on missing persons and identify remains. Internationally, West Virginia expands its AMBER Alert program to allow alerts without confirmed abductions, New York cab drivers begin online training to respond to alerts via dispatch devices, and New Mexico introduces a Silver Alert system for missing senior citizens.

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