The launch of Missing Kids UK’s site and confidential support number coincides with International Missing Children Day, first marked in 1983.
A child is reported missing every 3 minutes in the UK, according to a charity website launched today aimed at finding them.
The launch of Missing Kids UK’s site and confidential support number coincides with International Missing Children Day, first marked in 1983.
Each year 140,000 under 18s go missing, among them 15-year-old Adrianna Kozlowska, reported missing 16 days ago.
The Wandsworth girl is of medium build with shoulder length blonde hair, last seen wearing a black jacket, blue jeans, red shoes and a black handbag on May 9.
She is urged to contact Runaway Helpline for confidential support on 0808 800 7070, text 80234, or email [email protected].
If anyone sees Adrianna, they should call Missing Kids UK on 116 000 or visit www.missingkids.co.uk to download her poster.
Children and young people between the ages of 12 and 17 are the most likely to go missing, an estimated 81% of which had been living with parents.
The line is blurred between those who made a choice to run away from home and care and those forced to leave.
Figures from the National Missing Persons Helpline suggest an over representation of ethnic minorities.
Lady Catherine Meyer, founder and chief executive of Parents and Abducted Children Together (PACT), said: “The important thing now is to raise public awareness of the website.
“I am delighted to announce this major breakthrough in PACT’s decade-long campaign to reform the way we tackle this tragic issue.”
To aid awareness of the website’s launch, celebrities including Stephen Fry, Lord Sugar and Katie Price today made appeals via social networking site, Twitter.
Figures suggest a higher probability of going missing among teenage girls than boys. In adults, men were more likely to go missing.
A 2003 study by Lost from View found one in nine children and young people were victims of sexual assault while away.
Peter Davies, Chief Executive at the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre said: “By the very act of going missing, children are made more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.
“The new website and help provides the channels for them to reconnect to a place of safety.”
A wide variety of factors can lead to children and young people going missing, from abduction to choosing or being forced to leave home or care.
Among adults, employment and financial strains are the dominant cause.
The government’s Missing Children and Adults Strategy was launched in December 2011 to streamline the fragmented picture illustrating the scale of the problem.
The concept of ‘ambiguous loss’ defines the sense of loss families experience when a loved one goes missing, where a lack of information means closure is hard to achieve.
Missing People will hold a volunteers’ week between 6-8 June from 9-5pm at their Roebuck House offices, 284 Upper Richmond Road West, East Sheen, SW14 7JE for those wishing to support families missing loved ones.
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