{{Short description|Children who have disappeared}} '''Missing children''' are "children whose whereabouts cannot be established and where the circumstances are out of character, or the context suggests the child may be subject of crime or at risk of harm to themselves or another".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Statutory guidance on children who run away or go missing from home or care |url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/307867/Statutory_Guidance_-_Missing_from_care__3_.pdf |access-date=28 October 2025 |website=Department of Education, Government of the United Kingdom |page=7}} {{OGL-attribution|version=3.0}}</ref> A child can be separated from parents or custodian either accidentally, when they run away, or when they are abducted, abandoned, injured, trapped<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Chowdhury |first1=Shriya |last2=Bhattacharjee |first2=Sanjana |last3=Gopisetti |first3=Dolphy |last4=Priya |first4=Khushi |chapter=Borewell Accident Prevention System |date=2023-12-14 |title=2023 International Conference on Next Generation Electronics (NEleX) |publisher=IEEE |pages=1–5 |doi=10.1109/NEleX59773.2023.10420968 |isbn=979-8-3503-1908-8}}</ref> or deceased.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Finkelhor |first1=David |last2=Asdigian |first2=Nancy |last3=Hotaling |first3=Gerald |date=1996 |title=New Categories of Missing Children: Injured, Lost, Delinquent, and Victims of Caregiver Mix-ups |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45399240 |journal=Child Welfare |volume=75 |issue=4 |pages=291–310 |jstor=45399240 |pmid=8689899 |issn=0009-4021}}</ref>
In contrast to the plight of missing persons in general whose primary vulnerability is the lack of support from their close social groups, the vulnerability of a missing child is at once social, biological and cognitive.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Woolnough |first1=Penny S. |last2=Cunningham |first2=Sheila |date=2020-10-28 |title=Developmental perspectives on the behaviour of missing children: exploring changes from early childhood to adolescence |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316x.2020.1837130 |journal=Psychology, Crime & Law |volume=27 |issue=6 |pages=539–561 |doi=10.1080/1068316x.2020.1837130 |issn=1068-316X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bricknell |first=Samantha |url=https://doi.org/10.52922/ti208244 |title=Missing persons: Who is at risk? |date=2017-11-16 |publisher=Australian Institute of Criminology |doi=10.52922/ti208244 }}</ref> A child gone missing is an emergency as their tender age predisposes them to unexpected and serious harm.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hayden |first1=Carol |last2=Goodship |first2=Jo |date=2015 |title=Children Reported 'Missing' to the Police: Is It Possible to 'Risk Assess' Every Incident? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43687843 |journal=The British Journal of Social Work |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=440–456 |doi=10.1093/bjsw/bct150 |jstor=43687843 |issn=0045-3102}}</ref> The plight of parents who have missed a child is often among the most agonising of the human conditions, as they do not know whether the child is safe or unsafe, dead or alive.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Alavi |first1=Khadijah |last2=Nen |first2=Salina |last3=Mohamad |first3=Mohd Suhaimi |last4=Sarnon |first4=Norulhuda |last5=Ibrahim |first5=Fauziah |last6=Mohd Hoesni |first6=Suzana |date=2013-12-15 |title=Understanding the Factors of Children Missing/Running Away from Home in Malaysia |url=https://doi.org/10.11113/jt.v66.1651 |journal=Jurnal Teknologi |volume=66 |issue=1 |doi=10.11113/jt.v66.1651 |issn=2180-3722}}</ref> [[File:Etan Patz 1978.jpg|thumb|Photo of six year old Etan Patz, a missing child from Lower Manhattan who never came back and whose tragedy triggered a slew of major governmental efforts in the United States to trace missing children|242x242px]] Instances of missing children are among the most evocative issues in society and <ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fritz |first1=Noah J. |last2=Altheide |first2=David L. |date=1987 |title=The Mass Media and the Social Construction of the Missing Children Problem |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4120669 |journal=The Sociological Quarterly |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=473–492 |doi=10.1111/j.1533-8525.1987.tb00307.x |jstor=4120669 |issn=0038-0253}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Best |first=Joel |date=1987 |title=Rhetoric in Claims-Making: Constructing the Missing Children Problem |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/800710 |journal=Social Problems |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=101–121 |doi=10.2307/800710 |jstor=800710 |issn=0037-7791}}</ref> the cases have attracted much attention in media<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Lewit |first1=Eugene M. |last2=Baker |first2=Linda Schuurmann |date=1998 |title=Missing Children |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1602681 |journal=The Future of Children |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=141–151 |doi=10.2307/1602681 |jstor=1602681 |pmid=9782656 |issn=1054-8289}}</ref> as well as popular culture.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2003-09-01 |title=Cinema's missing children |url=https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.41-0205 |journal=Choice Reviews Online |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=41–0205–41–0205 |doi=10.5860/choice.41-0205 |doi-broken-date=29 October 2025 |issn=0009-4978}}</ref> The failure of agencies to rescue missing children in time has often witnessed massive reprisals from people,<ref>{{Cite news |last=McLaughlin |first=Daniel |title=Second Romanian minister falls amid anger over teenager's murder |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/second-romanian-minister-falls-amid-anger-over-teenager-s-murder-1.3975565 |access-date=2025-10-28 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}}</ref> and this has precipitated grave political situations such as what followed the Kidnapping of Alexandra Măceșanu and Luiza Melencu when the death of the child led to massive public protest and extracted a heavy political toll on the government.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019-08-02 |title=Alexandra Macesanu murder: Minister sacked over 'deeply wrong' remarks |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49210168 |access-date=2025-10-28 |work=BBC |language=en-GB}}</ref> In the United States, the disappearance of Etan Patz led to a series decisions at the national level including the declaration of the National Missing Children's Day.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2025-07-23 |title=Etan Patz's Case Haunted New York. It's Still Not Over. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/nyregion/etan-patzs-case-haunted-new-york-its-still-not-over.html |access-date=2025-10-28 |language=en}}</ref> Nobel Committee underlined the importance of addressing the issue of missing children when it awarded Nobel Peace Prize to Kailash Satyarthi.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kailash Satyarthi Biographical |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2014/satyarthi/biographical/ |access-date=28 October 2025 |website=The Nobel Prize}}</ref>
== Causes == Children are classified as missing when it is unclear to their parents or guardians where they are for an extended period of time, though missing children also includes those who have been abducted by their parents or relatives outside of lawful agreements. Causes include cases when a child is injured, kidnapped, trapped, deceased, has run away, or getting accidentally lost as in a busy marketplace.<ref name=":1" />
== Consequences == Most children reported missing are located quickly.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hayden |first1=C. |last2=Goodship |first2=J. |date=2015-03-01 |title=Children Reported 'Missing' to the Police: Is It Possible to 'Risk Assess' Every Incident? |url=https://academic.oup.com/bjsw/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/bjsw/bct150 |journal=British Journal of Social Work |language=en |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=440–456 |doi=10.1093/bjsw/bct150 |issn=0045-3102}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Quindlen |first=Anna |date=4 April 1981 |title=MISSING CHILDREN (Published 1981) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/22/nyregion/missing-children.html |access-date=2025-10-28 |work=New York Times |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Burrai |first1=Jessica |last2=Pizzo |first2=Alessandra |last3=Prisco |first3=Beatrice |last4=De Filippis |first4=Lorenza |last5=Mari |first5=Emanuela |last6=Quaglieri |first6=Alessandro |last7=Giannini |first7=Anna Maria |last8=Lausi |first8=Giulia |date=2022-06-21 |title=Missing Children in Italy from 2000 to 2020: A Review of the Phenomenon Reported by Newspapers |journal=Social Sciences |language=en |volume=11 |issue=7 |pages=267 |doi=10.3390/socsci11070267 |doi-access=free |issn=2076-0760}}</ref> Missing children enjoy massive goodwill from society and generally receive care and sympathy of the general public and more people come forward to help them than harm them.<ref>{{Citation |last=Holmes |first=Lucy |title=Missing Person Appeals: A UK Perspective |date=2016 |work=Handbook of Missing Persons |pages=19–35 |editor-last=Morewitz |editor-first=Stephen J. |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-40199-7_3 |access-date=2025-10-29 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-40199-7_3 |isbn=978-3-319-40197-3 |editor2-last=Sturdy Colls |editor2-first=Caroline}}</ref> However, as long they remain missing, their tender age, lack of physical strength, social skills and cognitive development predispose them to harm from accidents, criminals, and criminal tendencies. This can lead to situations where they suffer injuries, violence, recruitment into criminal gangs, child labour, slavery, and, in rare cases, death.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Schizophrenia: General Findings |url=https://doi.org/10.31887/dcns.2000.2.4 |journal=Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience |date=2000 |volume=2 |issue=4 |doi=10.31887/dcns.2000.2.4 |doi-broken-date=29 October 2025 |issn=2608-3477}}</ref>
== Rescue == The time at which a child should be considered missing is defined as the time when the parents or custodians report the child to be missing. Any delay in launching a rescue can be fatal for the child; in fact the initial hours are the most productive hours for rescue. The following strategies have been adopted or proposed to be adopted in rescue of missing children.
* Public alerts (such as the Amber Alert that was introduced in the United States and later adopted in countries from Canada to UK to Slovakia to China to Australia) and crowdsourcing.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=El Alaoui El Abdallaoui |first1=Hasna |last2=Abdelaziz |first2=El Fazziki |last3=Mohamed |first3=Sadgal |chapter=Finding a lost child using a crowdsourcing framework |date=2016 |title=2016 4th International Conference on Control Engineering & Information Technology (CEIT) |publisher=IEEE |pages=1–6 |doi=10.1109/CEIT.2016.7929047 |isbn=978-1-5090-1055-4}}</ref> * Police Investigation: Early intervention, community involvement, examination of child's parents, friends and teachers, inter-agency coordination, especially with railway police, border police, transport agencies etc. are some of the strategies adopted by Police.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Maxson |first1=Cheryl L. |last2=Little |first2=Margaret A. |last3=Klein |first3=Malcolm W. |title=Police Response to Runaway and Missing Children: A Conceptual Framework for Research and Policy |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0011128788034001005 |journal=Crime & Delinquency |date=1988 |language=en |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=84–102 |doi=10.1177/0011128788034001005 |issn=0011-1287}}</ref> Standard Operating Procedures exist in many jurisdictions<ref>Ministry of Women and Child Developmen ''Standard Operating Procedures for Missing Children'', Government of India, http://www.trackthemissingchild.gov.in/trackchild/readwrite/publications/FinalSOPMissingChild2016.pdf accessed on 29 October 2025</ref> * Rescue during crowd gathering: Children getting separated from parents during mass gatherings is a common challenge encountered by Police. Radio Frequency wrist bands, intelligent video surveillance systems<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nadeem |first1=Adnan |last2=Ashraf |first2=Muhammad |last3=Qadeer |first3=Nauman |last4=Rizwan |first4=Kashif |last5=Mehmood |first5=Amir |last6=AlZahrani |first6=Ali |last7=Noor |first7=Fazal |last8=Abbasi |first8=Qammer H. |title=Tracking Missing Person in Large Crowd Gathering Using Intelligent Video Surveillance |journal=Sensors |date=2022 |volume=22 |issue=14 |pages=5270 |doi=10.3390/s22145270 |pmid=35890950 |pmc=9323688 |bibcode=2022Senso..22.5270N |doi-access=free |issn=1424-8220}}</ref> etc. have been employed to prevent and locate missing children during such gatherings:<ref>{{Cite news |date=2025-01-04 |title=Visakhapatnam police use RFID tags with QR codes to prevent missing children cases during Indian Navy event |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/visakhapatnam-police-use-rfid-tags-with-qr-codes-to-prevent-missing-children-cases-during-indian-navy-event/article69062528.ece |access-date=2025-10-29 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}}</ref> * Databank for missing children and found children. * Legal provisions for mandatory reporting of found children: Many jurisdictions have punitive provisions incorporated into statutes(eg: Juvenile Justice -Care and Protection of Children- Act, 2015, India) for not reporting details of found children to designated systems. * Rescue Drives. * DNA matching: This can be employed in specific suspected cases<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ge |first1=Jianye |last2=Budowle |first2=Bruce |last3=Chakraborty |first3=Ranajit |date=2011 |title=Choosing Relatives for DNA Identification of Missing Persons |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1556-4029.2010.01631.x |journal=Journal of Forensic Sciences |language=en |volume=56 |issue=s1 |pages=S23–S28 |doi=10.1111/j.1556-4029.2010.01631.x |pmid=21155801 |issn=1556-4029}}</ref> or as part of mass detection drive where DNA bank of parents of missing children can be matched against DNA bank of found children.{{cn|date=February 2026}} * Deep Learning-Enabled Missing Child Identification<ref>{{Citation |last1=Sravanthi |first1=K. |title=Deep Learning-Enabled Missing Child Identification |date=2025 |work=Applications of Computational Intelligence in Management and Mathematics II |volume=493 |pages=473–489 |editor-last=Lin |editor-first=Frank |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-031-84513-0_40 |access-date=2025-10-29 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer Nature Switzerland |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-84513-0_40 |isbn=978-3-031-84512-3 |last2=Akshay |first2=N. |last3=Akash Reddy |first3=B. |last4=Sai Charan |first4=G. V. V. N. |last5=Vijay Kumar |first5=M. |editor2-last=Patel |editor2-first=Ashok |editor3-last=Kesswani |editor3-first=Nishtha |editor4-last=Sambana |editor4-first=Bosubabu}}</ref>
== Notable cases ==
* Disappearance of the Beaumont children (Australia) * Disappearance of Sheila Fox (United Kingdom) * Disappearance of Etan Patz (United States) * Disappearance of Ludovic Janvier (France) * Death of Baby Falak (India) * Kidnapping of Alexandra Măceșanu and Luiza Melencu (Romania) * Murder of Adam Walsh (United States) * 2006 Noida serial murders (India) * Disappearance of Madeleine McCann (United Kingdom) * Murder of Cecilia Zhang (Canada) * Guaratuba case (Brazil)
== Prevention strategies == As the reasons for missing children vary across geographies, understanding the characteristics of children who go missing on a regular basis is an important first step in developing prevention strategies.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bezeczky |first1=Zoe |last2=Wilkins |first2=David |title=Repeat missing child reports: Prevalence, timing, and risk factors |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2022.106454 |journal=Children and Youth Services Review |date=2022 |volume=136 |article-number=106454 |doi=10.1016/j.childyouth.2022.106454 |issn=0190-7409}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bhattacharyya |first=Rituparna |date=2017 |title=Sociologies of India's missing children |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/aswp.12116 |journal=Asian Social Work and Policy Review |language=en |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=90–101 |doi=10.1111/aswp.12116 |issn=1753-1411}}</ref> The studies so far indicate increased propensity for certain categories of children to go missing. This includes children with parents facing mental health challenges, children facing parental conflict, and children who are victims of various kinds of abuse. Hence prevention programs to identify, screen, and engage these high-risk children and their families can be productive.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sklavou |first1=Konstantina |last2=Venieraki |first2=Maria (Marianna) |last3=Balikou |first3=Panagiota |date=2024-03-19 |title=Missing Children: A General Overview |url=https://www.obrela-journal.gr/index.php/obrela/article/view/278 |journal=Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience & Mental Health |language=en |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=1–8 |doi=10.26386/obrela.v7i1.278 |issn=2585-2795}}</ref>
== See also == * Missing person * Child abduction
== References == {{Reflist}}
Category:Missing people Category:Child safety Category:Child abduction