Tips to prevent child abduction

As April is national Child Abuse Prevention Month, we will continue with our discussion about child abuse.

Remembering “Baby Grace” and her impact on Galveston, it’s important to remember that she was found while many, many other children aren’t.

If you go to the Web site for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, you will find that, in the state of Texas alone, there are more than 200 children still missing.

As you scroll through the pictures and the descriptions, it’s painful to think of what has become of them.

Preventing your child from being abducted is more than teaching them to be afraid of strangers. From the Web site, www.about.com, they discuss teaching skills to prevent abduction as presented by Dr. Daniel Broughton, MD. He suggests the following:

• Children should know their name, address and phone number with area code.

• Older children should know their parents’ work numbers.

• Away from home, older children should always be with a friend, always tell a responsible adult where they will be and say “no” if they fell threatened or uncomfortable.

• Children need to know that appropriate strangers, store clerks or police officers, can offer assistance if they are lost or need help.

• Parents need to listen and respect their children’s feelings. Children can sense unease, and they are more likely to tell parents their concerns if they are sure their parents will take them seriously and not make fun of them.

• Parents need to supervise children who use the Internet. Child molesters are approaching children on the Internet more frequently.

• Parents should continue to insist on safety measures through middle school and high school. Most victims of nonfamily abductions were 12 years or older and most were girls.

• Parents should keep a good quality recent photo of each child such as a school photo.

• Parents should promptly report a missing child. The Amber Plan is credited with helping recover more than 130 children in its first two years.

Sally Robinson is a clinical professor of pediatrics at UTMB Children’s Hospital, and Keith Bly is an assistant professor of pediatrics in the UTMB Children’s Emergency Room. This column isn’t intended to replace the advice of a physician.