Policy Discussions Conducted

An interesting paradox exists in the land of missing child services: Because direct services cannot be provided to someone who is missing, virtually ALL the direct support services and resources pertaining to child-abduction are actually designed for families searching for missing children and for the professionals who assist them.

Cases are considered closed once the primary victim is found.

This lack of direct services for victims means a lack of direct contact between victims and victim service providers. Combine that with a lack of substantive published research into the impacts of child abduction and a shortage of data collected from primary victims, and the result is a serious lack of knowledge about abduction victims’ experience and subsequent challenges.

In other words, conclusions, policies, and practices have developed without sufficient foundational data and testimony from the targeted population. Imagine policies and services for the homeless, or veterans, being developed without conducting research among those who have experienced homelessness or military service, relying instead on data and testimony from the target population’s families and service providers. Unimaginable! Yet that is precisely what happened in the arena of missing child services. The results are myriad conclusions, policies, practices and legislation that run the gamut from misguided to outright detrimental to the population being served.

Take Root strives to improve America’s missing child response by adding data and testimony from victims to the public and policy discussions on child abduction.