National Missing Persons Day: An Opportunity To Shine Light On Some Forgotten Cases

National Missing Persons Day is observed on Feb.3 every year to bring awareness about thousands of unsolved missing person cases reported across the country.

National Missing Persons Day was established on May 25, 1983, not only to draw attention to these disappearances but also to support those families who through the trauma of losing their loved ones.

Though primarily investigated by the police, there are several voluntary charity organizations in the U.S that actively help to search for a missing person. You can observe the day by sharing pictures and information about missing people that you come across. You can also work along with local organizations that need help in searching.

Here are some facts about missing cases that will help to understand the issue better:

1. In the U.S, almost 2300 children go missing every day. This means a child missing case is reported every 40 seconds in the country. It is also estimated that every year, more than 8 million children go missing across the world.
2. Legally, a person can be declared dead in absentia after seven years of being listed as missing. In case of mass disasters like natural calamities or war, this period can be even further reduced.
3. In the incident of a child missing, the response time is very critical as according to reports, the first three hours are the crucial period to find the child safely. Around 76.2% of kidnapped children who are murdered are reportedly killed within three hours of the abduction. It is also estimated that it almost takes two hours to get information about a missing child when the parents panic.
4. The statistics show that more than 99% of children reported missing in the country today are found alive. With the advancement in technology and search techniques, many lives could be saved today. For instance, forensic artists use age progression photos that help to create the identities of the missing children.
5. A child can go missing due to several reasons including abduction from own family members, kidnapping by strangers, runaways or getting stranded.
6. The AMBER Alert, a system now used to alert communities about the endangered missing and abducted person was established in 1996 after the disappearance and murder of 9-year old Amber Hagerman from Arlington, Texas.
7. International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children ( ICMEC ), a nongovernmental organization aimed at providing a safer world for children, established the Global Missing Children’s Network (GMCN) in 2019. The world’s largest missing child alerting system, GMCN, has a multilingual database that features photographs and information about missing children from across the world.