7 tips to prevent child abduction

As a mom, the thought of my child being taken away from me was dreadful. Unfortunately, child abduction is rampant nowadays. Day by day, a lot of cases of child abduction are in the headlines. It is very scary. Parents should take extra measures on protecting your child from this horrible event. This morning, I have received an email from Busymomtips yahoogroup, they listed 7 tips to prevent child abduction. I think posting this will be very helpful to educate ourselves.

The Pet Lure: This is one of the most effective and deadly lures where a friendly-looking stranger approaches a child and asks for assistance in finding a nonexistent lost puppy or kitten. Young children are instantly drawn into the concerned pet owner’s story and eagerly start helping by calling out the pet’s name while looking under benches and behind bushes. In the blink of an eye when they have reached the edge of the play area, they are whisked away into the woods or a nearby vehicle.

The Candy Lure: This old-fashioned trick is still being used with great success by perpetrators who offer a child a piece of candy or a shiny coin. When the child reaches out to take the prize their arm is quickly grabbed, pulling them close enough to be picked up and carried off. This can happen in less than ninety seconds.

The Assistance Lure: In this scenario, the predator may drive down a street and ask a child if they have seen their lost dog, for directions to the nearest gas station, or for other information. This lure works very much like the candy lure whereupon the child approaches the open window of the car and when they are close enough, their arm or hand is snatched and they are quickly pulled into the vehicle.


The Emergency Lure: In this type of situation a perpetrator may approach a child in a store or business while insisting there is a fire, burglary, or some other type of emergency in the building and coax the child to step outside. Once outside they can grab the child and run.

The Authority Lure: A predator may tell a child that Daddy has been in a car accident or Mommy is very sick and wants the child to come home with the nice man. Often the stranger will have an official looking badge they can flash and intimidate the child with, so let your child know that if they are ever in doubt that it’s okay to say “no,” to an authority figure. Instead they should run to a neighbor’s house or find a teacher (if they are at school) and report the incident.


The Celebrity Lure: Sometimes a perpetrator will try to coax children to come with them by using the lure of a celebrity or icon, such as Barney or Spongebob. Impress upon children that it’s not okay to go anywhere with anyone else no matter how exciting it may sound.


The Name Lure: Beware of putting your child’s name on clothing, lunch pails, or backpacks that is visible to anyone. Instead write their name on the inside of the garment or school supplies where it cannot be easily seen. This is another age-old lure where the perpetrator uses a child’s name to put them at ease and gain closer access. Ted Bundy used this trick a number of times to approach his victims with great success. Let your children know that just because someone may know their name, it doesn’t mean they can be trusted.

The daycare, where my son goes, has teamed up with Enfant-Retour Quebec. Enfant Retour Quebec was founded in 1985. It is the only non-profit organization in Quebec whose mission is to assist families in the search for the missing children and to educate the public in order to decrease the occurrence of children disappearing. SOURCE At least twice a year, the organization meets up with the parents and the daycare educators to give lectures on how to prevent child abduction. Part of the program is to set up some identification book of the child. The identification book looks like a travel passport. It contains the child's personal info (name, address, phone number), picture, thumb prints etc. This book is very handy and useful especially when you travel.You can visit their website at http://www.enfant-retourquebec.ca/index_en.php. A lot of programs has been set up all over the world to put a stop on this, there's Amber Alert, ICMEC and a lot more. Let's all be careful and be safe all the time.

By the way, I just found out that Charlene Davis, the moderator of busymomtips yahoogroup, has a blog. You can visit and follow her at BUSYMOMTIPS.