• Safety Tips:
• School Safety: Proper Release Procedures
• Personal Safety: Alert at Play
• Questions and Answers: How old should my child be before I let them stay home alone?
• Statistics: Runaway Teens
• One Opinion: Open to Discussion

School Safety:   

Be sure everyone in your school or camp setting understands the proper procedures for releasing a child from the program. Recently we heard of one child who was released to a man with a note, who claimed to be the school bus driver who was there to transport him to a special education program. The teachers did not think the child was supposed to go to the new program until Thursday, but this was Wednesday. He presented a note he claimed was from the bus company, and the school nurse believed him.  

However, she should have taken two extra security steps. First, she should have confirmed that the note was from the bus company by calling, and also inquiring about the discrepancy of the days. Second, she ought to have notified a parent, and to confirm if they where aware or not. Ultimately, she could have faced some serious charges from guessing it was okay to send the child with an unfamiliar person. (Despite confusion for everyone, this time the situation turned out without any harm other than fear.)
 
Personal Safety:  

With the children playing outdoors this summer, all parents hope that the cars driving by are alert and obey speed limits. It is frightening to hear a car speed by when you know there are children playing nearby. However, it also disconcerting to hear a car slowing down when the children are playing near the road.  

Teach your children to learn to become familiar with the cars of all your neighbors, and to pay attention when an unfamiliar car passes or slows down. Tell them to observe details, like color, style, any damage on the passing vehicle, what state the license plate is, and they can also learn to observe who is driving a vehicle. This is useful information if something happens in the neighborhood, whether it is a robbery or other problem. Children don¹t need to be frightened to learn how to be helpful detectives; teach them the value of caring about their community and keeping an eye on each other. Of course, before they were old enough to be left unattended outdoors, you taught them not to approach a car that asks for directions and run to get an adult.

Questions from Readers' and Our Answers:  

Q. How old should my child be before I let them stay home alone?  

A. This most obviously depends upon the maturity of your child, but ten year olds are really the youngest that you could start to consider leaving alone briefly. Think about how well they handle responsibility, obey your limits, and cope in an emergency. How well have you prepared your child? Can they tell their phone number and other information if they must call 911? Also check to see if there are any laws in your state regarding the minimum age you are allowed to leave them alone. It is also a good idea to build up the amount of time you let them be home alone, start with 10 minutes while you walk around the block, and then 20 while you run to get some milk.

You may want to check their skills by calling while you are out, or arranging for a friend of your's to make a test phone call to see what information your child shares. You can also have them ring your doorbell and then discuss with your child how they felt.

Be sure you discuss how your child feels while you out of the house, and measure their comfort level. You want them to be genuinely comfortable, not trying to impress a friend or two.

Statistics:    

§  The average age of a runaway is 14, although some runaways are as young as 8 and some as old as 17.

§   The Federal Government estimates that there are more than 1 million runaways throughout theUnited States. For more information on Runaways, please visit the source of these statistics at: http://www2.seaford.k12.ny.us/Sites/Seaford_Web
_Site/High/Karen%20Lyon%20Web/FAQ_run

For additional information on how to help runaways, visit: http://www.child.net/street.htm    

One Opinion ­ Open To Discussion 

When you just have an uneasy feeling that you have small tip to share with the police, you may feel silly calling the detective to come over. But it is better to share a small tip that may prove useless than to keep any information that may prove vital later on. Let the police determine if the information is helpful or not ­ even the smallest clues may help more than you suspect.  

While camping, one woman kept visiting a campsite and being friendly to the young child on the site. The parents did not feel comfortable, but could not put their finger on any particular reason not to trust her. When they got home, they read in the newspaper that a woman had three times attempted to abduct small children from local supermarkets, and two mothers provided some description of her appearance. Based on those descriptions, the parents called the police to tell them they believed they had seen the suspect at the campsite, but they felt funny since she had done nothing particular wrong. However, the detective spent over an hour interviewing them, learning which site number the woman had camped at and other small details. He assured them that he appreciated the information.  

Another time, a four year old child told his mother that he thought he saw a gun, maybe a machine gun under a bridge they drove under. He was very worried about it, and drew a picture of what he saw. It was the shape of gun. The mother decided to call the police, hoping they would reassure the boy that he was safe. In fact, they quickly sent over a detective to interview the boy since a stolen gun had been reported that morning. They went to investigate, discovered it was an old muffler, but the detective was so proud that the young boy had spoken up that he returned to thank the boy and encouraged him to always call the police for help and to help. It is the small details that we observe that may help with the bigger picture of helping find a lost child.   

Excellent information on how you can protect your children from abduction and how to assist police in an investigation can be found at http://www.fhpd.co.st-clair.il.us/cpfpd1.htm

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