I will stick with “Mom” and my cellphone number in marker on the sole of his shoe, thanks ;-). Good idea though, on the cellphone pic when in a crowded place.

I find the accompanying photo misleading. You are visually connecting a safety-tat image with a “fear mongering” title. I assumed this article was negative toward temporary tattoos–which it is not. I’d update your image to one more relevant to the story.

I’m too tired to look up the stats right now, but in most kidnapping cases, I’m pretty sure it’s someone related to or close to the child. It’s rarely a stranger. That said, I’m down with the tats for the reasons articulated above. Not the registry so much.

I’d prefer a bracelet type thing to the tattoos, myself- that way, it can be reused and is quicker to get on.

Comments I googled it, and according to the U.S. Department of Justice, 800,000 children are reported missing each year. No, that number is not broken down into categories such as runaways, non-custodial parent abductions, abductions by family members or friends, or stranger abductions. But if a child goes missing, does it really matter which category the disappearance falls into? What’s critically important is for law enforcement agencies to have the child’s picture(s) and detailed description – including any medical issues – on hand as quickly as possible. Experts agree that time is of the essence when a child goes missing, and Amber Alert Registry allows law enforcement – local, federal, even international, immediate access to that information. With AAR I can call 911 and say, “Everything you need is online, here’s the password,” rather than trying, in the midst of a panic situation, to scrounge up a recent photo (or two, or three) remember my child’s exact height and weight, then wait for the police to arrive and collect the data before putting it into their system to be disseminated. It’s clearly a much quicker process than gathering, scanning/emailing and sending the information out in real time.

Here is the best break down of missing children I can find basec on the U.S. Department of Justice. “National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview”

800,000 children younger than 18 are missing each year, or an average of 2,000 children reported missing each day.
200,000 children were were abducted by family members.
58,000 children were abducted by nonfamily members, and
115 children were the victims of “stereotypical” kidnapping. These crimes involve someone the child does not know, or knows only slightly, who holds the child overnight, transports the child 50 miles or more, kills the child, demands ransom, or intends to keep the child permanently.

And here are the scarier statistics from NCIC.

- 73% of all violent crime against missing children occur within the first three hours, and 99% occur with the first four.
- 40% of all children abducted by strangers are killed.

I am a former law enforcement officer and I now work in the field of child safety. I am glad to hear that many of you are preparing yourselves to better protect your children. The fact of the matter is that the majority of parents are not prepared if ever their child goes missing. They do not carry current pictures and when they are frantically looking for their child, they tend to not remember what their child was wearing.

I am not endorsing the protect above or any other product. There are many methods are preparing yourselve and your child and it is up to each individual to find what they are comfortable doing.