PARENT SAFETY TIPS 

1. Contact: Make sure that your child knows:

• His/her full name
• Your full name
• Your address
• Your telephone number(s), including area code(s).
• Make sure your child knows how to use a telephone
• How to call 911.
  
  

2. Children Alone: Do not leave your young children home alone.

• If you must leave your teenage children at home by themselves, tell them not to answer the door.
• If they answer the telephone, they should not mention that they are alone but should say that you will be back shortly.
  
  

3. Strange Cars

• Tell your children to move away from cars that pull up beside them if they do not know the driver, even if the driver claims to know you.
• If your child is being followed, they should know to run home or go to a safe house or the nearest public place.
  
  

4. Dangerous Locations

• Teach your children not to play in isolated areas and not to take shortcuts through empty parks, fields, or alleys.
  
  

5. Strangers

• Let your children know that they should not accept items from strangers or others without your express permission.
  
  

6. Tell your children that they may contact you at any time to pick them up and where to go if you are not available.

• Point out which houses in your neighborhood they may visit if they are in trouble.
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7. Never leave your child alone in a public place, stroller, or car, even for brief periods of time.
8. Accompany your young children to the bathroom in public places.
9. Go with your children during all door-to-door activities.
10. Maintain up-to-date identification information on your children at all times, including:

• Medical and dental records
• Social Security numbers
• Photographs
• Fingerprints
• DNA: samples also can be collected and stored in your home.

GUIDELINES

First 24 Hours
The first 48 hours following the disappearance of a child are the most crucial to the possibility of a
successful recovery. Use the following checklist during the first 24 hours to help increase your chances
of locating your child. If more time than this has passed, still ensure that these items are addressed as
quickly as possible.

1. IMMEDIATELY call 911
2. Request NCIC: Once in contact with investigators, ask to have your missing child put in the FBI's
   National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Missing Persons file. There is no waiting period.
3. Request FBI: Request that the FBI be involved in the search for your child.
4. Use Kid-Print to send information to the investigator. They will provide you their email address.
   Provide them with the entire Family Safety Profile as they may need to contact others in the FSP 
   in their search for your child.
5. Gather Information: Gather and provide as much information as you can about your child to
   help investigators.
   Provide a description of:
   - What your child was wearing
   - Any personal items he or she may have possessed at the time of disappearance
   - Any mannerisms that may help locate your child.
   - Give law enforcement all the facts and circumstances related to the disappearance of your
   - child, including what search efforts have already been made.
6. Request BOLO: request law enforcement put out a BOLO (Be On the Look Out) bulletin for your child.
7. Request a Search: Ask your local law enforcement agency to organize a search for your child.
   Request tracking or trailing dogs (preferably bloodhounds) in the search effort.
8. Request AMBER Alert: Ask the law enforcement agency about the AMBER Alert Program
   (www.amberalert.gov), which activates an urgent bulletin in the most serious child abduction cases.
9. Limit Home Access: Limit access to your home until law enforcement has collected possible evidence.
   ​- Do not touch or remove items from your child's room or your home during this time.
10. Investigator Contact Information: Request the name, telephone number, and any other pertinent
    contact information for the law enforcement investigator assigned to your case.
    - Keep this information on your mobile phone and in a convenient place near your home phone.
11. List of Friends: Make lists of friends, acquaintances, and anyone else who might have information or clues as to the whereabouts of your child.
    - Try to include telephone numbers and addresses when available.
    - Inform law enforcement of individuals who recently moved in or out of the neighborhood, anyone whose interest in or involvement with your family has changed in recent months, and anyone who appeared to be overly interested in your child.
12. Social Media: List your child's online interests, including favorite websites and social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, etc.) as well as friends on these sites.
13. Contact NCMEC: The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)
    - 1-800-843-5678 (800-THE-LOST) for assistance.
    - NCMEC, which partners with the FBI to help find missing children, may assign a case manager. NCMEC can provide investigators with a copy of its publication, "Missing and Abducted Children: A Law Enforcement Guide to Case Investigation and Program Management."
14. State Missing Child Clearinghouses:
    - Published on NCMEC website: www.missingkids.com/clearinghouses
    - Call them and find out what resources they may provide.
15. Local Media: Request that local law enforcement help you contact the media.
16. Get a Helper: Designate one person to answer your telephone.
    - Keep a notebook handy so that this person may keep track of relevant names, telephone numbers, dates and times of calls, and other information about each call.
17. Care for your Family: Take care of yourself and your family.
    - Force yourself to get rest, eat healthy, and talk to friends.

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Second 24 Hours
In the event that your child is not located in the first 24 hours, the following steps may be taken.

1. Talk to your Investigator: Talk with the law enforcement investigator assigned to your case about steps that are being taken to find your child.
2. Expand on your list of friends, acquaintances, extended family members, yard workers, delivery persons, or anyone else who may have seen your child during or following the disappearance/abduction.
3. Look for clues: Look at personal calendars, community event calendars, and newspapers for additional clues as to who may have been in the vicinity and might be the abductor or a possible witness. Give this information to law enforcement.
   - Save copies of your local paper.
4. Polygraph: Expect that you will be asked to take a polygraph test. Volunteer to take one.
5. Media Distribution Locations: Work with your NCMEC case manager to identify locations where your child's poster may be distributed or displayed. When a case is media ready, NCMEC sends posters to the geographic area where the child is believed to be located.
6. Media Press Release: Work with your law enforcement agency to schedule press releases and media events. You may also wish to ask someone close to you to act as a media spokesperson.
7. Reward: Discuss the use of a possible reward with your law enforcement agency.
8. Report extortion attempts: Report any potential extortion attempts to law enforcement.
9. Phone Lines: To protect the privacy of your home telephone number, consider having a separate telephone line installed with call forwarding to your existing landline or cell phone.
   - Get caller ID and call waiting.
   - Ask law enforcement to install a phone in your home that can be used to record calls.
   - Keep your cell phone with you at all times.
10. Volunteer List: Make a list of things that volunteers may do for you and your family.
11. Child Medical Records: If you have not done so already, call your child's doctor and dentist to request medical records and x-rays. Give these to law enforcement.
12. Web site for leads: Discuss with law enforcement the creation of a website to capture information or leads.
    - Designate a screened and trusted volunteer to manage and monitor this website.
13. Care for Yourself: Continue to take good care of yourself. Ask others to help take care of your emotional and physical needs during this time. Request that your coworkers and employer do so as well.​