Understanding the benefits of Amber Alerts? What’s to understand? It is a given. Amber Alerts can save the life of a child. They have saved children’s lives. For those who can’t grasp the concept put yourself in the shoes of a parent or grandparent. Imagine that your precious gift of life has been abducted by an unknown person. Can you feel the pain that the family endures? The dreadful unimaginable fears and pain of not knowing what is happening to your child or grandchild? Knowing in your heart that without a miracle or the intervention of a caring, compassionate person you may never see that child alive again.
In a split second two strangers could change your whole world. One to turn it upside down and one who will bring back the balance between right and wrong. By using the Amber Alert we are able to jump ahead tremendously when time is so very critical. More and more children are being found alive and returned to families than ever before. This is thanks in part to the Amber Alert system. It is also thanks to the many millions of people who are searching for your missing child. People who may be thousands of miles away that may not have known your child was missing using traditional methods until it was too late. We are empowering and educating communities to better protect their most precious members. It has been said that it takes a village to raise a child. Today it literally takes a world to save and protect a child.
As a mother my biggest fear was always of one of my children being abducted. My heart ached every time I heard of a child missing. Now as a grandmother that fear is even greater. When I created www.graciebeans.com as a place for parents, grandparents and kids to get together and have fun or search topics of interest, I made sure I added an Amber Alert ticker and an applet from the National Center For Missing And Exploited Children. It is so important to get these pictures out there in the hands of people from all over the world. Children are not just abducted by sexual predators. Sometimes the abductor is a family member. Children are often abducted and taken out of the country. This is why it is so important to have a worldwide system that is so far reaching in such a short amount of time. When a child is in danger, time is crucial. Every second counts. Wouldn’t you want the whole world searching for you child? Wouldn’t you want to know that every possible resource and every technology available was being used to help bring your child home safe? I would. Therefore, I can’t understand why there would even be a question about the benefits of the Amber Alert system. Although I feel tremendous sympathy for John Walsh and the parents of little Polly Klaus and the countless others, I would like say thank you for all they have done to help protect other children from becoming victims of the same senseless tragedies. They could have just grieved and tried to go on with their own lives. But they chose to put their time and energy to positive use. In no way do I mean to diminish the severe pain and grief they have endured. But I am grateful that they have done so much to reach out and help families and children they don’t even know.
If you have a website, please donate a small portion of a page to place and Amber Alert ticker or missing child alert. You can find the Amber Alert at http://www.codeamber.org/?tck. You can find out more about the Amber Alert which stands for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response. If you are a parent you will find some very useful information and tools to help protect your child. You can also get email and cell phone alerts when a child goes missing. For the “Have You Seen This Missing Child” applet I referred to earlier go to http://www.ncmec.org/. The NCMEC website has a great deal of valuable information for parents and their children including teens.
As a parent you owe it to your child or teen to arm yourself with as much technology and research as possible. You can bet that’s what predators are doing right now. Beat them at their own game…stay a step ahead. Protect your child. Maybe someday we will live in world where children can play safely in their own homes and yards. Hopefully someday.