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• Act immediately. Search your house thoroughly, including closets, piles of laundry, in and under beds, old, stored, refrigerators, or wherever a child might hide, fall asleep, or get trapped.
• If you still haven't found your child, think where he or she could have gone. Check with your neighbors, your child's friends and school; if you are divorced, call your ex-spouse.
• If you still haven't found your child, call the police and start procedures immediately. Provide as much precise information as possible, including the clothing your child was wearing when he or she disappeared. If your child is under 13 years of age, is mentally incapacitated, or drug dependent, police response may be expedited. Make sure the police put information about your child into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Missing Persons File to ensure that any law enforcement agency in the country will be able to identify your child. If your local police refuse to do this, the FBI will enter your child's name into the NCIC computer. There is no waiting period for entering a child's information and this entry will not give your child a police record.
• After you have notified your local police, also call The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's toll-free hotline to report your child missing. One of their technical advisors may be able to follow up with you and the police department during the investigation. Call 800-843-5678; TDD Hotline (for the hearing impaired), 800-826-7653. These numbers are also for use by any person who has information on a missing child.
• Look for clues at home that may help you to find your child. Check your child's room for notes, letters, or missing clothing. Check your telephone bill: Are there any unfamiliar long-distance calls that may indicate where your child might have gone- Request duplicate bills if necessary.
• Look for clues in your neighborhood. Ask the postal carrier, local storekeepers, building employees, and anyone who might have been on the street and seen your child; check arcades and "hangouts;" inform area hospitals, drug-treatment centers and children's shelters that you are looking for a missing child.
• Look for clues at your child's school. Speak to teachers, the principal, the guidance counselor; talk to your child's friends and enlist their help.
• Check out all areas of your child's life: adults, peers, clubs, your church or synagogue. Talk to any adult your child might have looked up to. Explore any interests or activities that your child pursued that would introduce him or her to new people. Tell everyone and anyone that your child is missing and ask for their help.
• Canvass distant friends and relatives to whom your child might have gone.
• In urban areas, have searches made of locked or generally inaccessible areas, such as roofs, basements, and garages.
• Alert the police of any bus and train terminals, airports, any parkways, and national parks near your home, particularly if your child might try to reach a divorced parent, camp friend, or favorite vacation area.
• If there had been tension between you and your child, tell friends, neighbors, relatives, and authorities who may speak to him, to convey a message of love, and that you only want him to return home safely. If your child calls, communicate love and concern for her safety--not fear, and not anger about the past.
• Publicize your child's disappearance: make flyers with the child's recent, clear photograph attached, along with a description that includes sex, age, height, weight, eye and hair color, any identifying marks or scars, and details of clothing and jewelry when last seen. At the top of the flyers should be the heading "Missing" or "Have You Seen This Child-" in bold letters. Give the name and phone number of a law enforcement office that can receive calls around the clock. Post these flyers in store windows, at shopping malls--anywhere you can. Enlist the support of local newspapers and television stations, and drop off or mail flyers to all area hospitals and other treatment centers.
• If you employ a private investigator, get references and check them carefully. Call your state's licensing bureau, the Better Business Bureau, and your local or state consumer protection agency regarding the investigator's standing.
• One video tape on preventing child abuse which you may want to rent or buy is "Strong Kids, Safe Kids." This tape is available at some video rental stores and libraries. There may be other tapes you might want to view with your child to explore these sensitive topics; we recommend previewing any tape before watching it with your child to determine if it is age appropriate.