NCJ Number
201400
Editor(s)
Kathryn M. Turman
Date Published
March 1995
Length
48 pages
Annotation
This publication provides information and guidelines to police and other professionals regarding best practices for reunifying recovered missing children and their families, the dynamics of the criminal victimization process, appropriate and careful investigation and prosecution techniques and issues, and appropriate post-recovery support services.
Abstract
The authors first present basic facts about missing children, with attention to the various types of missing children, including nonfamily abduction; family abduction; runaways; thrownaways (children whose parents refuse to house and care for them); and children who are lost, injured, or otherwise missing. In the second section of the publication, a team approach to the family reunification with missing children is recommended and described. In a section on establishing a recovery and reunification team, the authors explain the role of teams, starting up, implementation of the team, and tips from successful teams. The team -- which is composed of representatives from law enforcement, the family and dependency court, child protection services, mental health services, and victim-witness advocates -- coordinates services for the family and the recovered child. A section on planning for recovery and reunification focuses on the various roles of the agency representatives; namely, law enforcement as the lead responder, mental health services, the role of child protection services, the role of the family or dependency court, and the role of victim-witness agencies. The next major section of the publication addresses the reunification meeting. Among the recommendations for this meeting are the giving of priority to the physical/emotional needs of the child, the alerting of family members as quickly as possible, having the reunion in a neutral/private location, and the establishment of pre-existing procedures for handling all aspects of the meeting, from media involvement to activating the roles of team members. The concluding major section of the publication focuses on special issues of nonfamily and family abductions as well as runaway children. Each of these discussions consists of guidelines for managing the reunion and the reunion scenario. Appendices contain discussions of stages of emotional reaction in nonfamily abduction cases, the postrecovery response patterns of children in nonfamily abductions, the postrecovery response patterns of children in family abductions, training and information resources, and the ICAN child abduction task force protocol. A 40-item bibliography