At any given time there are hundreds of thousands of missing persons in America. Why do I know that? I spend a lot of time volunteering for the missing person cause. Why? Because twelve years ago one of my daughters ran away from home and was missing for over three months. Think about that for a bit.
Have you ever been in a store and your child disappeared for a few seconds or even a couple of minutes before you found her? If so how did you feel? Did your heart literally try to jump out of your chest? Did you feel like vomiting?
Now imagine that fear, that feeling for three long months. Do you think you would survive? Perhaps you think you might die from anguish. Trust me you won’t you will live, if you can call it that. You won’t sleep at night very much, you won’t really feel like you are yourself.
You won’t want to go anywhere with your friends. You won’t want to leave your home, because if you left your home to go to work, to buy groceries, to get the mail. You might miss the phone call. The call about your child or please god from your child. No matter what their age, no matter how bad your relationship, no matter what, you will live in constant fear until you know that your child is safe. You won’t even care by this time if they come home you just want to know they aren’t dead.
I am speaking frankly about this because it is so unbelievable that the epidemic of the missing has been so hidden and unrecognized in this country. If this many people became ill, it would be all over the news. We would have government involvement. We would see pleas for donations. With the missing we see nothing.Nothing that those of us in the missing person community do not organize, find funding for and beg for others to attend. How can this be?
The missing child issue is well recognized, although it does not receive the media attention that it should there are rules for missing children. There are rules that their information must immediately be entered into the FBI National Crime Information system or NCIC. There are rules that drive the Amber Alert system. Rules that make law enforcement get out and search or ask media to help. Rules that make our telephones ring to announce that there is a child missing in our neighborhood.
For the missing adult there is nothing. Some are unrecognized by law enforcement because…. Adults have the legal right to go missing. This is the very heart of the matter that causes so much negativity and creates so much trouble about missing adults. I also recognize that we have the right to go where ever we want, but how many of us are so hateful that we would just cut and run on our families?
I know that there are those here and there that would do that but the not the magnitude of missing adults that are currently reported to law enforcement and listed as missing at this time. So what are we to do? Who can help?
As of 2009 the Department of Justice opened two databases that list missing persons and unidentified dead. NamUs or the North American Missing and Unidentified Persons System was officially brought online in 2009. This is the first time ever in history that civilians have been able to enter data into a federal law enforcement database.
Families can enter their missing loved ones into the database. A caseworker at NamUs will work with law enforcement to make sure all the case details are correct and that information is entered. There is a program at the University of Northern Texas helps pay for DNA samples that will be entered into the database.
When all the information that can possibly be entered is in the missing person database it and the database for unidentified dead work together concurrently to identify in DNA, Dentals, or fingerprints possible matches.
There is also another upside to this interaction. The caseworker at NamUs will contact the law enforcement officer in charge of the case. Often this will stimulate a new look at the evidence or even cause a cold case to be reopened and information gone over again with new technology.
Don’t get me wrong, this is wonderful progress! This is something that those of us who have worked and volunteered in this field have dreamed of for years. It is a thing of awe and wonder. However, there is still no media coverage. People hardly even know what NamUs is. I have talked to law enforcement officers that don’t know what it is. How can this be possible?
There are a few TV shows that sometimes talk about missing persons. Nancy Grace often mentions specific cases. Beth Holloway has a new show called Vanished which is a huge step in the right direction. We are losing a long time show, America’s Most Wanted is being cancelled and this will be its last season. John Walsh has been a longtime advocate for missing persons.
This however goes back to what I mentioned in the beginning, most of the missing person volunteers or advocates had, have or are related to or know someone who is missing. This remains a sad state of affairs for all of us.
Awesome post!! xoxo
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