Day 329:
27/03/2008 Thursday
Kate and I arrived back from Washington
yesterday. We went primarily to visit the National Center
for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and to learn more about the
implementation of their national AMBER alert system (child rescue alert). The
whole experience was very positive. The staff at NCMEC is the most experienced
in dealing with missing and abducted children anywhere in the world.
The AMBER alert system should be used in the most serious child
abduction cases (usually by strangers, when the child is considered at risk of
serious harm) to recover the child as quickly as possible. The alert is based
on the realisation that galvanising the local community can play a huge role in
finding missing children. Last year alone 68 children, and almost 400 in total
since its? implementation, were recovered safely as a direct result of the
AMBER alert. In 16 cases the abductor released the child safely when hearing
the AMBER alert. We strongly feel that Europe
should have a similar integrated child rescue alert.
Our visit to Washington and meetings with other relevant European
organisations will be shown on a documentary to be screened by ITV on the 30
April. The programme will focus on the campaign to introduce a European version
of the AMBER alert. There will of course be massive media interest in
Madeleine's disappearance at this time, if she remains missing, and we hope
that the programme is shown in most European countries and further afield.
During our Washington
visit we were also very encouraged to hear that, in NCMEC's experience, the
younger the child at the time of abduction the less likely that child will be
seriously harmed. Such information makes us believe even more fervently, in the
absence of evidence to the contrary, that Madeleine can be found safe and well
