The Missing Are All Children in Need of Help

Our inn recently provided accommodations for a mother and 10-year-old daughter who were reunited through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, as part of a joint program involving Quality Inns International and the center.

The child had been abducted five years ago by her baby sitter and, even though her name had been changed, authorities at the center were able to locate her records in their files when the child sought assistance and reunited mother and daughter.

It was an extremely touching event and we were proud to have the opportunity to help these people during a very difficult time. I was left wondering where this child would have turned had it not been for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

I am writing this letter because I know the center has come under attack of late. Critics charge that the issue of missing children receives too much publicity. They argue that many of the missing children are runaways or abducted by an estranged parent. I am writing in defense of the center’s activities.

The center makes no secret of the fact that most missing children are runaways or the victims of parental abductions, as opposed to abductions by strangers. According to their own figures, about 1 million runaways are reported each year and another 25,000 to 75,000 children each year are the victims of parental abductions. The center estimates that between 4,000 and 20,000 children are abducted each year by strangers.

We should all be grateful that a relatively small proportion of the millions of missing children are abductions by strangers. But that does not mean that we should discontinue our efforts to find every child that is reported missing. I applaud the fact that the center does not make distinctions between these three “types” of missing children. They are all children in need of help.

I also applaud the center’s continuing efforts to locate all missing children. Without this nationwide network, there would have been no reunion at our inn.

PATRICK F. GRABOWSKI JR.

Los Angeles