Missing Children

Did you know in the UK, a child is reported missing every 3 minutes. Many of them are snatched by estranged parents who have lost custody battles. Others simply vanish, leaving behind shattered and heartbroken families.

This shocking information comes from www.missingkids.co.uk, an official website to help find missing and abducted children from the UK

Recently relaunched by the police's specialist child protection agency, the website is used by police forces to circulate up-to-date photographs of and information about youngsters who have been missing for days, months or even years.

Run by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop), the website allows the public to download posters, and in some cases includes age-progression images showing how missing children may have changed as they grow older.

The charity Parents and Abducted Children Together (Pact) hailed the new redesigned website as a long-overdue national approach to the problem.

Lady Catherine Meyer, founder and chief executive of Pact, said:

"With over 130,000 children going missing in the UK each year, I am delighted to announce this major breakthrough in Pact's decade-long campaign to reform the way we tackle this tragic issue.

"With the re-launch of the Missingkids website, and Ceop's taking responsibility for missing and abducted children, we finally have the tools to bring hope to those whose children have gone missing or been abducted.

"The important thing now is to raise public awareness of the website."

The website currently has 135 missing children from all over the UK, of all ages and races.  Some have recently been reported missing whilst others like Mary Flannagan, who disappeared in 1959, have been missing for years.  Some are high profile like Ben Needham and Madeline McCann whilst others are less widely known about.  However, each and every one has someone missing them and never giving up on the hope that they will be reunited soon.

www.missingkids.co.uk also offers a help and advice section which covers subjects relevant to all parents, not just those with missing children.  Take a look at the sections on online and offline child safety advice.

For more information on missing children visit the Missing Kids website.