The Missing Children Society of Canada’s (MCSC) mandate is to help return missing children to a safe environment. The organization established in 1986 has evolved from one distributing posters to find a missing child to one embracing the latest technology to help police in the search for that child.
MCSC also reaches out to enlist the help of other professionals in the search and location of missing children in addition to working with traditional media and online/social media to bring public awareness to cases of missing kids.
MCSC provides affected families with knowledge and resources throughout the search and reunification while ensuring that all its programs are free so that all families in need of help receive it, regardless of their financial situation.
“For more than 30 years, the Missing Children Society of Canada has worked tirelessly to protect children and serve families. We believe there is no greater calling.”
– Amanda Pick, Chief Executive Officer
In 2017, the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children appointed MCSC as the Canadian non-governmental organization to participate in the Global Missing Children Network alongside the RCMP. The Global Missing Children’s Network is an organization that includes agencies from 30 countries around the world. Members of the network share ideas, tools and research related to missing children and child abduction.
MCSC is committed to the search for as long as there are missing children.
Every minute counts. It’s important that authorities, such as police, be contacted so efforts can be concentrated around the search for that child.
In many cases, alerts will be sent out to members of the public whose help is vital to finding the missing child.
Typically, there are two alert scenarios when a child goes missing: the AMBER Alert, which is used sparingly, or the Child Search Alert, which is initiated by the Missing Children Society of Canada upon being contacted by police.
An AMBER Alert is a rapid emergency child alert system that is activated by police when a missing child under age 18 is believed to have been abducted and in imminent danger. AMBER alerts are sent through the National Public Alerting system to mobile phones and on broadcast media, through social media and on electronic highway signs.
AMBER Alerts are rarely issued, and criteria depends on the province, but they should be taken seriously by members of the public who play a critical role in the search.
Most cases of abducted or missing children do not fall under the AMBER Alert criteria, but police still need a connection with Canadian communities to get the word out. It’s at that time police notices are transmitted via the Missing Children Society of Canada’s networks to be shared and broadcast.
MCSC’s notices are a vital element of the organization’s mandate as a partner with police in the search for missing children.
“We believe that this program has the potential to improve traditional search and investigation methods and offer law enforcement resources which, given budget restraints, prove challenging for all agencies within the police community.”
– Superintendent Cliff O’Brien, Calgary Police Service
The Missing Children Society of Canada’s Child Search Alerts include people connected through social media, digital marketers, plus traditional and online media. The alerts are assembled to support police and allows them to share important information with the public. All information to the network comes directly from police.
Imagine taking a poster about a missing child and being able to tape it to more than a million telephone poles in less than five minutes.
Thanks to technology, innovation, and digital reach, not only is it possible, it’s got a name: the Child Search Network — a communication tool with a series of components, including an app, social media, and other digital communication channels. It allows police departments across Canada to reach members of the community whose eyes, ears, and voices are critical in the search for a missing child.
One of the key elements of the Network is MCSC rescu, an easy-to-use application that was created for MCSC by Esri Canada and is populated, in part, with information on missing children cases pulled from databases by technology developed by Microsoft.
People can download MCSC rescu to their phones and other devices, where they see continually updated information from police on missing children in Canada. Active cases are divided by region and tips on specific cases can be submitted with one click on the app’s case page. Critically, users are also invited to share that case page to their contacts, through networks, including text, email and other social media such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
App users can also register to receive SMS alerts, Child Search Alerts, on cases in their area police deem critical, but that don’t meet the specific criteria required to become an AMBER Alert.
Police services are clear that help from the community is critical to their important work in finding missing children. And while they will point out it might only take one tip to bring a case to a positive conclusion, it’s clear that the chance of reaching that outcome increases as the Child Search Network grows.
Download MCSC rescu, and follow us on Facebook & Twitter to join the search today.
No family should be left alone to deal with the trauma of a missing child.
MCSC helps families cope with the stress of a missing child, during the investigation as well as after reunification by helping them gain access to local agencies and resources established to help with the complex issues around missing children and child abduction.
“The difficult times that I went through while my daughter was abducted were highly emotional and it wasn’t easy to focus on the most important aspects of my daily life. The Missing Children Society of Canada’s family and peer support … has been great, helping me understand what is really happening with the left-behind parents, and how to cope with the pain.”
– Reunited Parent and Former Program Participant
MCSC has an in-house team of former police investigators who work with federal and municipal police departments as well as international police in the search for missing children.
MCSC supports police in investigating stranger abductions, parental abductions, disappearances, and endangered youth cases.
If you contact us:
We rely on the generous support of donors like you. Without your financial contributions, our investigators wouldn’t be able to close one registered file every 2-3 days. Make a donation and help us to continue to provide our services to searching families.
Whether you want to make a one-time donation or join our monthly giving program, your support is essential to helping us reunite families. Every dollar makes a difference.
Click here for other ways to get involved.
CEO
1-800-661-6160