Runaways
What to do if your child is missing.

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!!!! ...This is very important...
You are the vital link to your child. You are the one who can motivate others to look for your child. You must take care of yourself so you can have the strength to search for your child. Please... eat well, sleep, keep in contact with family and friends, find a way to relax and exercise. Don't feel guilty about doing any of these things. You need to hold on to your sanity and stay healthy and strong for the day your child returns home.

"All of us, at certain moments of our lives, need to take advice and to receive help from other people."
Alexis Carrel

GET HELP FROM FRIENDS, FAMILY and TEAM HOPE
People want to help but they often don't know what to do. Give them tasks – don’t wait for them to ask. They can help with phone calls, completing forms, mailing flyers, reaching out to the media, making certain you take care of yourself, etc. Contact Team HOPE for emotional support, empowerment, resources and assistance.

"After the verb 'to Love,'
'to Help' is the most beautiful verb in the world."
Bertha von Suttner

Last but not least, remain calm and avoid negative people.

These pages are filled with many suggestions for the search for your child; get help from a Team HOPE volunteer. Call us toll free at 1-866-305-HOPE

Contact local law enforcement

• Write down the name of the officer who takes the report as well as the badge number, telephone number and the police report number.
• Find out from the officer who will follow up on the initial investigation.
• Keep a notebook and record all information on the investigation.
• Be sure to ask if your child is entered into NCIC (National Crime Information Computer). The child must be entered here or other law enforcement agencies won’t know that your child has been reported as missing if the child is picked up or a check has been run on them for something else.
• Make fingerprint and dental records available to the police.

"Our patience will achieve more than our force."
Edmund Burke

• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)
  Call the NCMEC 1-800-843-5678. 1-800-The Lost
  The NCMEC is the national clearinghouse for all missing children. They can also verify that your child is listed into the NCIC. They will assign a caseworker who will assist you.
• Missing Children Clearinghouse
  If your state has a clearinghouse on missing children, make sure the police have contacted them and passed on the necessary information about your child to them.
• Phone log
  • Keep a telephone log
  • something as simple as a spiral notebook
  • write down all the calls made and received
  • whom you talk to
  • the agency name
  • the persons name and the phone number
  • note the date and time and a few notes about what you discussed
  • It is so easy to forget the agencies and people you’ve talked to and who said what. The notebook will keep you organized and help alleviate some stress.
• Flyers
  • Collect recent photos of your child to be used to make flyers. Full frontal photos are more desirable.
  • Keep track of any original photographs of your child and put them in a safe easily accessible place in your home. Have at least 20 copies of each pose made. If you do not have the negatives, copies can be made from the photographs in your possession.
  • Law enforcement and missing children organizations will make flyers for you. However, you are able to make a flyer yourself at the following website: www.beyondmissing.com
  • You may also add a handwritten message to your child on the flyer.
  • Post the flyers at fast food places, malls, rest stops and any place your child may go. Always ask for permission to post flyers . If the proprietor does not want to post the flyer in a public place ask where to place it so their employees can see it.
  • Provide bus stations with a flyer or picture of your child. Bus stations don’t usually keep track of the names of people on busses but employees may recognize a picture or a description.
  • For more ideas on where to distribute flyers call Team HOPE and speak with a volunteer.
• Telephone
  • Be sure to use an answering machine so you won’t miss a call if your child tries to reach you. Leave an outgoing message on the answering machine for your child in case they call when you are not home. It is important to try and reach out to your child so they can come home without repercussions.
  • Get “call waiting” on your phone if you don’t already have it. It allows you to answer any call that comes in so your line is always open.
  • Utilize “last call return” if available in your area for hang up calls – press *69 or the established code for your area. Contact your phone company to find out if there is a better way to track calls in your area.

"Patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping your gears."
Barbara Johnson

• National Runaway Switchboard
  • Call your local runaway hotline as well as the National Runaway Switchboard at 1-800-621-4000 or www.nrscrisisline.org. (Parents and children can leave messages for one another here if they aren’t yet ready to talk directly to one another)
• Computer
  • Has your child been “chatting” with someone on the Internet who may know their whereabouts? If your child spends a lot of time on the Internet, please provide this information to the police and your caseworker at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Sometimes children leave home with the intention of meeting in person someone whom they have met online.
  • Contact the school and ask if your child used a computer to send e-mail.
  • When contacting your child’s friends, ask if your child used their computers. Also check with their parents. These computers, if they were used by your child, should be scanned and checked as well for any clues to your child’s whereabouts.
• Check with your child’s friends
  • Be sure to show concern and avoid making threats or accusations. Friends are usually able to provide some information. Speak with their parents so they are aware of the situation. If your child has not returned after a few days, check back with these friends again.
• Make contact
  • Contact your child’s school, resource officer, teachers, school counselor, neighbors, relatives or anyone who may know your child’s whereabouts or possibly have information about your child.
• Check for clues and information
  • Check school lockers, gym lockers, pockets on both inner and outer clothing and notebooks for any phone numbers, names, locations, addresses, receipts etc. which might indicate where your child has gone. Look carefully through your child’s room.
  • If your child has run away before, contact the person with whom he or she was found and search the area where he or she was previously found.
  • If your child appears to have run away with a friend, contact the friend’s parents and obtain information on that friend to include with the information on your child. Encourage the other child’s parents to report their child as “missing” to law enforcement as well.
  • If the parents of the child are not living together, contact the “other” parent concerning the whereabouts of or contact with the child.
  • Check on locations where your child may go on a regular basis.
    

"Never, never, never, never give up."
Winston Churchill

• Vehicle information
  • If your child is old enough to drive and a vehicle was taken, obtain a detailed description of the vehicle to be disseminated along with information on your child.
  • Be sure local police alert highway patrols and if your child is believed to be traveling out of state, contact should be made with those state patrols.
  • Ask your State Department of Motor Vehicles to check on recent car registrations, title transfers, new licenses, and license renewals.
  • Check car rental agencies.
• Hospitals and Clinics
  • Check with area hospitals and clinics.
  • If your child takes prescription medications, check with local pharmacies.
• Employers
  • Check with your child’s employer to find out if your child was receiving any unusual calls while working, had any absenteeism and when your child received their most recent paycheck.
• Also talk to your child’s co-workers.
• Phone bills
  • Check past phone bills and cellular phone bills (if applicable) for any unusual long distance calls placed recently.
• Banks
  • If your child has access to money at a bank, have there been recent withdrawals?
  • If they have a checking account, have checks been used since your child was last seen?
  • Has an account been closed or have funds been transferred anywhere?
• Pawn Shops
  • If your child needed money and had something to “pawn off” be sure to check area pawnshops. Be aware if a certain item of either yours or your child’s is missing.
• Credit Cards
  • If your child has credit cards (or if yours were taken) contact the credit card companies and ask for duplicate copies of all charges and receipts for your records. Pay special attention to gasoline credit cards. If they use the credit cards it should leave a “paper trail”. Although your immediate reaction may be to cancel your cards, they could provide valuable information.
    

EVERY DAY IS A ROLLER COASTER
Each day is a struggle. A great deal of the time you won't get the cooperation you want. You will get frustrated because the search for your child doesn’t seem nearly as important to others as it is to you. Sightings and leads frequently prove to be dead ends. When you feel like you are at the end of your rope, step back, take a walk, reach out, call a friend or relative, refresh yourself, call to speak with a Team HOPE volunteer. Please remember – today you are one day closer to recovering your child.

We realize that this is very overwhelming for you. We know. We’ve gone through this agonizing process. Please call us toll free at 1-866-305-HOPE. You will be matched to a volunteer who will help you through this process and give you more suggestions on what to do when your child is missing.