By Jeana Lee Tahnk

The U.S. Justice Department reports that approximately 2,185 children are reported missing every day, which averages to a child going missing every 40 seconds. That’s almost 800,000 kids each year in the U.S. alone. The statistics are terrifying. It is every parent’s worst nightmare to be in the midst of a scenario involving a lost child, but tragically it happens all too often.

Amber alerts have been helpful in quickly broadcasting the suspected abductor’s and child’s details through Emergency Alert Systems, but with the advances in technology, there are additional ways that can get the word out faster and to a wider base of people. SecuraChild is one of those ways. It is a website and service that uses all modern means of communication – social networks, Facebook, Twitter, email, texts – to send an alert whenever a child is reported missing through the site.

Parents need to go to the website and register their child(ren) for free. Identifying information such as physical characteristics, medical conditions, photos and videos can be securely added to complete a child’s profile. In the event of a missing child, the parent can quickly go to the website and enter where the child was last seen, what they were wearing, etc. and immediately activate a Community Response Alert. The information, along with the child’s profile, is blasted to thousands of people including followers of SecuraChild on Facebook and Twitter and Securachild members, who can then become a virtual and offline search party.

When the alert is created, SecuraChild also sends parents a document containing all the information entered about the child, which makes it easier for officials and local law enforcement agencies. CEO Chris Holbert says, “If your child goes missing, it is nearly, if not totally, impossible to remain calm. Unlike other services that exist today, SecuraChild is free for parents to use to create profiles for their children, and we broadcast the notification they send us when their child is missing to Facebook, Twitter and our members to create a vast network of searchers in seconds. By using SecuraChild parents can crowd source thousands of willing parents and child protection networks to mobilize a search party quickly as every minute counts.”

It is important to note that SecuraChild does not contact the authorities and police department in the event of an abduction. This is simply an additional service that parents should be aware of to help spread the word and get more people mobilized quickly.

It is the hope that you or I will never ever have to experience anything as traumatic as a missing child, but in the tragic event that it happens, being prepared with technology on your side is the best thing that you can do.