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Organisations highlight International Missing Children's Day

Ahead of International Missing Children’s Day (25 May 2010), key agencies involved in the issue of missing children have announced that they will be highlighting the day with various different activities.

The charity Missing People will unveil their new three year strategy which will enable more missing children and vulnerable adults to get help when they need it, and improve the support services available for families. Click here to view the Strategic plan

Stephen Fry, a Vice Patron of the charity has lent his support to the plan, saying “When people go missing they can be incredibly vulnerable, often cut off from any kind of support. It is vital that they know where to turn, and commitments in this new plan for missing people will ensure that everyone in this position can access the support they so desperately need.”

As part of commemorations for International Missing Children's Day, the National Policing Improvement Agency will hold a re-launch event for Child Rescue Alert, a nationally supported scheme that enables police forces to broadcast through the media information about a child who has been abducted and who may be at risk of serious harm.

Speakers at the event will include Ken Thomson, the father of missing Andrew Thomson who will have cycled across Europe in a bid to raise awareness of his son’s case and the thousands of other missing children across the world.

In the evening, supporters of Parents & Abducted Children Together are invited to a viewing of an unprecedented collection of balloon drawings, the balloon being the symbol of International Missing Children's Day. Over 100 international celebrities, including Kirk Douglas, Whoopi Goldberg, Sir Roger Moore, Hugh Grant, Andrew Marr and Robert Pattinson, have let their imagination run riot. Their unique balloon designs and drawings will be auctioned online through Mission Fish on E-Bay that evening.

Martin Houghton-Brown, Chief Executive of the charity Missing People said: “The plight of missing children cannot be solved by any one person or organisation. I am therefore delighted to see supporters, charities and law enforcement agencies come together for the common purpose they all share.

“Every opportunity to raise awareness of this issue is a valuable and a sad reminder of how much more there is still to be achieved.”

Other organisations marking the day include Missing Children Europe and Forever Searching. For more information on all International Missing Children’s Day activity please visit www.childrescuealert.com

Click here for the full press release