IT'S NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE?   . . . but the Committee for Missing Children did it. On August 27, 1999, CMC invited twenty-five parents of abducted children to a meeting in Washington, DC to help develop a handbook dealing with the subject of child abduction. In addition to the parents in attendance, lawyers, childcare professionals, other non-profit child-find organizations and governmental agency personnel, that deal with child abduction, were also invited. A total of sixty-two people attended the three-day event. This was the first time ever that a group of this size, with this many parents of missing children, has meet under one roof. This was also the first time any -find organization paid the way for this many parents to attend a meeting that dealt with their children. The CMC invested over $31,000 on this project.   Twenty-five Parents Come to Washington The parents invited represented stranger abductions, family abductions, runaways and international abductions, i.e., children abducted to another country.   Parents Attending The Conference: Walter Benda, Jodi Carlsen, Patricia Roush, Tom Johnson, Tom Sylvester, Kristine Uhlman, Barbara Kurth, Monica Bourget Jim Dingeman, Jody Himebaugh, Jean Henderson, Larry Whyte Kim Swartz, Tommy Addison, Melaine Addison, Audry Sanderford, Judy Gifford-Tosh, Floyd Tosh, Violaine Delahais, Cindy Miller, Joe Howard, Bruce Morton, Vic Shoemaker, Nettie Shoemaker, and Miriam Hernandez-Davis   Federal Government Responds 100%, Well Almost The governmental agencies attending were the Department of State's Office of Children's Issues (Bill Fleming and Ann McGahuey), the Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (Ron Laney), Interpol (Sarah McKee, Cindy Quinn, and Al Finch), Voice Of America (Charles Goolsby), the U.S. Marshals Service (Lonnie Brown), the Office of International Affairs (Mary Jo Grotenrath and Deborah Gaynus), the NCMEC (Jennifer Penta and Meredith Morrison), National Runaway Switchboard (Lora Thomas), and the International Division of the FBI (Greg Boosalis).   What A Bummer The division of the FBI that handles children abducted within the United States declined our invitation. They were the only federal organization to do so. Their lack of concern shows that we still have a long way to go to convince Federal law enforcement to take parental abduction and endangered runaways seriously.   Congress Fails to See the Light In addition to the FBI, seventy-six members of Congress were invited to take part in the meeting on child abduction. Not a single member of Congress or their staff was in attendance. Only seven chose to even acknowledge the invitation. I guess we have a lot of work here. We need the FBI and we need Congress. Both need to be actively involved in all aspects of child abduction. The Committee for Missing Children will continue to attempt to work with the FBI and we will do all that we can to keep Congress informed about those things that need to be legislatively changed in order to assist parents in the recovery of their children.   Legal, Law Enforcement and More Linda Shay Gardner from the Law Offices of Frederick P. Rooney, Helena Mizrahi an attorney from the DC area, Dr. Doug Darnell, who specializes in helping people deal with "Parental Alienation," Darrell Mavis, an Assistant District Attorney from Los Angeles, John Brodie representing local and state law enforcement and John Snyder, a legislative consultant, were present and contributed greatly to the success of the meeting. We could not have succeeded without their help and guidance.   Non-Profit Missing Children's Organizations Another group of individuals working with the Committee for Missing Children to make the meeting a success were people from other non-profit child-find groups. We were lucky to have several American organizations as well as one from Canada. Madeline Knight represented Child Quest International from California. Billi Wilkerson from Vanished Childrens Alliance in California, Amy Samsal from the International Center for the Search and Recovery of Missing Children in Florida, Nancy Morin from Child Watch of North America in Florida, Deatra Eichinger of Help the Kids in Colorado, and Patrick Bourgeron from The Missing Children's Network Canada all offered invaluable advice and guidance.   Don and Yas At our meeting, we had two special guests. The first, Don Putterman, is a member of our Board of Directors. Don spent the majority of his adult life educating young children, first as a teacher, then as a principal and finally as a Superintendent of Schools in Schoharie, NY. I have known Don for over forty years and he is a very dear friend who just happened to be my eighth and ninth grade English teacher. My life is so much richer for having known such an intelligent, kind and understanding human being.   Our second guest was a young lady who, against all odds, escaped from Saudi Arabia where she was taken by her non-custodial father. Her name is Yasmeen and her mom calls her Yas. Today, in America, she prefers the name Dria as her friends now know her. Dria spoke to the group at the meeting and told what it was like being held against her will in a country that does not recognize religious freedom or the rights of women. Dria is a brave young lady who deserves all the best.   Thanks The Committee for Missing Children wants to thank all the people mentioned above for their help, dedication and insight. Without their support we could not accomplish our goal of producing a handbook on child abduction that will assist not only parents who have had their children go missing, but professionals and agencies that deal with abduction on a daily basis.   Why Are We Doing All This The Committee for Missing Children took on the task of developing a handbook on child abduction after numerous conversations with parents whose children had gone missing. We noticed that parents of missing children, especially children who have runaway or who have been abducted by a spouse, were not getting the help and support they needed from law enforcement. Parents, many times, were left to search for their own children.   It was obvious that what the parents needed was some form of handbook that could "walk" them through the problems they will face as they search for their children. They need help in working their way through the local, state, and Federal system. They need to know that they will, in many cases, hit the perverbial "brick wall." They will be frustrated with the system and will feel like nobody cares. Our objective in developing the handbook is to give a parent of a missing child the resources they need to be knowledgeable about how things work and what they can do to help locate their child. By letting the parents know about other child find groups we are letting them know they are not alone, that many people care about them and their child. Langenselbold, Germany In May of this year, The Committee for Missing Children will hold a meeting similar to the one held in Washington, DC, in Langenselbold, Germany, where we have a satellite office. At the August meeting, it was determined that we would need the help of the European NGO's (Non Governmental Organizations) if we were to locate and recover children abducted to a foreign country. We also wanted to add a section to our handbook that addresses what a parent will be up against as they maneuver and litigate in a foreign country. It was decided that we would add a "country guide" to our handbook that would go to a parent of an internationally abducted child. It was also decided that we would develop a parent handbook for Europe that would go on our European Web page. This handbook will be in English, French and German.   Throughout this article you will see photos of the Washington meeting. Many of the photos feature members of government agencies hard at work. This is proof that your tax dollars, in this case, are being wisely spent.   top of page back to sections