Presented by Kent Estes
Teach Abduction Prevention Without Scaring Your Child or Yourself
Parents, it is time for you to get involved with the Polly Klaas Foundation, May 25 is National Missing Children’s Day. I was the Sexual Predator Coordinator in Broward County for over 5 years and I was a Career Criminal Detective for 8 years. During this time I met a lot of parents of missing and murdered kids. I noticed that they all had one thing in common and that is that they did not do anything until their child became a victim. Parents are not the victims, children are the victims from Sexual Predators. A parent does carry a emotional scare that their child has become a victim. Many times one parent will blame the other parent. This does not help and it can destroy a marriage and a family. What you need to do is, get involved. Order a Child Safety Kit from the Polly Klaas Foundation, www.pollyklaas.org/.
Take the first step, now. It is free and a must to help you protect your child. Contact your local Police Department and the school your child attends and find out if they have a Sexual Predator Meeting in your community. You need to attend it and get as many people as possible to these meetings. Ask your local schools what kind of training they provide for the children? See if they have a Safe Neighborhood program in your community. A Safe Neighborhood Program usually teaches children safety in a protected environment. The Main thing is that you need to get involved and learn as much as possible. Most people thing that they will scare the child but this does not work. A Informed child who has been trained in child safety is a smart child. The worst thing you can do, is do nothing at all. Remember that nothing will replace parental responsibility of knowing where your child is at all times.
Child awareness
If your child does become missing, you have a 2 hour life expectancy of getting that child back alive. DO NOT PANIC. Call 911 immediately and give the Police the pertinent information. A Child Safety Kit will help you during this stressful time.
Mom, does your child know how to call you?
Do your children know how to call you? Do your children know how to call your cell phone? Do your children know how to call you long distance if they are taken out of your area? Do your children know how to call you from inside a motel room? Do your children know how to call you from inside an office building? Do your children know how to call 911? Do your children know how to call 911 inside a motel room or inside an office building? These are some of the things that you need to teach your children. Most kids growing up today do not know how to call 911 since Rescue 911 was taken off the air but they know how to vote for their favorite on American Idol.
Missing Children
Children can be abducted and murdered from anywhere. No city or community is immune from this. About 100 to 300 children are abducted every year from a stranger somewhere within the USA. Amber Alerts and getting people involve does lower the risk of child abductions. It makes it harder for people to get away with these crimes. You can not let your guard down. Please get involved today and help the children. There are thousands of children missing in this country that have not been located. They unfortunately become the cases with the least attention and there is little or no priority to solving these cases. Many times a cold case can be easier to solve than a current case because time becomes your friend and not your enemy.
It takes time for someone to open the case and look at it. Modern technology can be on your side if the case is 20 years or older. Witnesses and Family members sometimes loose contact and are more likely to testify against each other after time passes by. If you do not do anything then the case usually will not get solved by itself unless someone confesses to the crime. Usually all it takes is someone who cares enough to take the time and look at the case.
Protect your Kids
Do not let this happen to your kids. An informed family is a safe family. Order your free child safety kit from the Polly Klaas Foundation. Child Safety Kits Help Keep Children Safe
What should I do immediately if my child goes missing?
Call 911 right away and do not panic — staying calm is essential so you can communicate clearly and give officers the information they need. Law enforcement professionals note that the first two hours are the most critical window for finding a child safely. Having a Child Safety Kit ready ahead of time — with your child’s photo, physical description, and identifying information — helps you give police everything they need without delay.
Does teaching children about abduction danger actually scare them, or does it help?
Teaching children safety in an age-appropriate way makes them smarter and more prepared — it does not make them fearful. A child who knows what to do if a stranger approaches, who knows how to call for help, and who understands that some adults can be dangerous is far better equipped to protect themselves. The worst outcome is doing nothing at all and leaving a child unprepared.
Does my child know how to call for help from an unfamiliar location?
This is worth checking right now. Many children do not know how to dial 911 from a hotel room, an office building, or a pay phone, where you sometimes need to dial an access number first. Practice with your child: make sure they know your cell phone number by heart, how to call you long distance, and how to reach 911 from any type of phone. These skills can matter in the moments when it counts most.
How can parents get involved in child abduction prevention in their community?
Contact your local police department and your child’s school to find out whether there are community safety meetings, sexual predator awareness programs, or Safe Neighborhood initiatives in your area. Attending and encouraging others to come builds community awareness that makes predators harder to operate unnoticed. You can also request a free Child Safety Kit from the Polly Klaas Foundation at pollyklaas.org, which provides tools to help document your child’s identifying information before it is ever needed.
Biography
To learn more about Kent visit his full profile on Squidoo at http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/Retired-Cop and learn how you can receive a free Child Safety Kit at http://www.squidoo.com/pollyklaas..yourchildsafetykits/
