Missing Child
If Your Child is Missing
Act immediately if you believe that your child is missing.
If your child is missing from home
- Search the house, checking closets, piles of laundry, in and under beds, inside old refrigerators, hope chests, toy chests–wherever a child might crawl or hide. If you cannot find your child, immediately call your local law-enforcement agency.
If your child disappears in a store
- Notify the store manager or security office. Then immediately call your local law-enforcement agency. Many stores have a Code Adam plan of action where employees must mobilize to look for the missing child.
Notifying local law-enforcement
- Explain that your child is missing and that your child has been identified at a MoCHIP Child ID event. The tools that you received in the yellow MOCHIP packet will provide law-enforcement with digital pictures and information compatible with the “Amber Alert” program.
- Tell law-enforcement when you noticed your child was missing and what the child was wearing
- Request that your child’s name and identifying information be immediately entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Missing Person File.
For additional information about child-safety topics, please visit the following Web sites
- National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) – missingkids.com or contact them at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678)
- MCGruff – mcgruff.org
- Safe Kids – safekids.com
To contact the Missouri State Highway Patrol in the event of an emergency
- 1-800-525-5555
- From your cell phone *55
Nearly 2,000 children are reported missing or abducted in the United States each day. Contrary to what most people believe, young children are not the most common victims of abduction. Reports indicate that teenagers are the most frequent victims of both non-family abductions and stereotypical kidnappings-81% were children 12 or older.
