It is tremendously difficult when a child is still missing, the ground search concludes, and the recovery center closes. At the conclusion of the public search, it becomes an ongoing challenge to keep the focus on the missing child, and to keep the missing child before the media. These are some ideas about what the family of the missing child, and their community can do, to keep searching.
Contact local billboard companies and ask for help getting the missing child's photograph and vital information on some billboards. Use billboards that are in appropriate locations to remind the community to keep searching for the missing child. LRCF may be able to help with this.
Fax and e-mail the flyer from time to time, to keep the missing child, the investigation, and the reward in front of the community.
Team H.O.P.E. - stands for - Help Offering Parents Empowerment (HOPE), a program of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It is a federally funded parent support network for families of missing children. Team HOPE is also a support resource. Volunteers with Team HOPE have ALL had a missing child. Families will be matched with a volunteer who truly understands what they are going through, and will listen and offer support (including resource information). Sometimes the family of a missing child just needs to talk with someone who understands. And the only people who can REALLY understand the roller coaster and emotional toll, is someone else who has walked the same road.
There are many non-profits who work on behalf of missing children. The Laura Recovery Center and TEAM H.O.P.E. can provide information to the family about organizations in each state across the United States of America. Not all states have a non-profit working on behalf of missing children, but they all have a Missing Person Clearing House. A fax number or mailing address is needed to provide this information.
The Missing Persons Clearing House is in each state. Many of them produce monthly bulletins that highlight missing children. The family or law enforcement fills out forms to register with each state.
Keep a phone log of incoming calls, recording who phoned, the date, time and brief information about the call. Unfortunately the higher profile cases may result in inmates of local prisons making collect calls to the family. Discuss this with law enforcement. (There are inmates who are seeking 5 minutes of fame - even though they were incarcerated at the time of the abduction - be prepared for fraudulent confessions). Psychics will also call, but rarely give any information that is helpful.
Be sure to have Caller I.D. and Call Waiting to capture all calls and information, especially unusual or anonymous calls. Discuss this with law enforcement.
From time to time (anniversaries 3, 6, 9, 12 months, annually etc) - to remind the community.
In random order:
Develop a press/media kit. As time passes, journalists who have covered your case may move away. New people move to the area, who may not know anything about your case. Write out the information (e.g. circumstances surrounding the abduction) you want disclosed. Verify this information with law enforcement first. Be sure that the missing child's photo (the most recent is best - and NOT a glamor shot) and a copy of the flyer is included. A local media person may be helpful in pulling this together. Share this with the investigator handling your case.
Contact the National Victim Center Tel: 703-276-2880. The National Victim Center assists victims of crime by educating them about how the criminal justice system works. They provide information about grief and the healing process, and other services that are available on a state by state basis. Ask about victim's rights concerning the media.
We hope that this information helps in this terrible time. Our thoughts and prayers are with you, for the safe recovery of your child.
Contact Information
906 Anna Lane
Friendswood, TX 77546
Phone: 281-482-LRCF(5723)
Toll Free: 866-898-5723
Fax: 281-482-5727
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