Missing Children's Initiatives
Fri, 23 May 2014 09:57:00 BST
Home Secretary Theresa May pictured at the House of Lords at an event to mark the forthcoming International Missing Children’s Day.
Dr Bernard Gallagher, Reader in Social Work and Applied Social Sciences at the University, attended an event on Tuesday 20 May at the House of Lords, to mark the forthcoming International Missing Children’s Day, Sunday 25 May 2014.
Bernard was in attendance as a guest of Parents of Abducted Children Together (PACT). Bernard acts as an adviser to PACT, on the basis of the research he has carried out on stranger-perpetrated child sexual abuse and abduction, including:
- 'Attempted and completed incidents of stranger-perpetrated child sexual abuse and abduction’
- ‘The sexual abuse of children by strangers: its extent, nature and victim characteristics’.
The keynote address was given by the Home Secretary, the Rt. Hon. Theresa May MP, and there were also speeches given by, among others, Jonny Gwynn (National Crime Agency - Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre Command Director) and Lady Catherine Meyer (Chief Executive, PACT).
The event was also attended by Kate McCann, mother of Madeleine McCann, and Coral and Paul Jones, the parents of the late April Jones.
The evening marked a significant period in attempts to respond to the phenomenon of missing people and in particular abducted children.
Sunday 25 May will also see the launch of two other important initiatives. The first of these is the revamped child rescue alert system. This system is designed to alert the public about a child who has gone missing, in the hope that this will facilitate the child being found and returned.
The second initiative is PACT’s Child Abduction Hub, which is designed to provide ‘the latest information and advice on all types of child abduction, whether by family members, acquaintances or strangers. It aims to bring together the latest developments in prevention and response’. Accompanying this, will be the release of a major report into stranger child abduction: ‘Beyond Stranger Danger’.
Bernard commented that the event was, not surprisingly, a quite sombre and moving one. But he added that with the above initiatives, and witnessing so many policy, practitioner, voluntary and private sector organisations working together, on such a vital issue, it was also inspiring one.
