Help Find Missing Children...Picture Them Home

National Missing Children’s Day is May 25. To recognize National Missing Children's Day you can wear a white ribbon and leave your porch light on that night. But you can even do more than that. Read on.

National Missing Children's Day was first proclaimed by President Ronald Reagan and honored by every administration since 1983. May 25th was chosen as National Missing Children’s day, because it is the day 6-year-old Etan Patz disappeared from a New York City street corner on his way to school in 1979.

On that morning, Etan begged his mother to let him walk 2 blocks to the school bus stop on his own. It was the first day that she ever allowed him to do this. She watched from her apartment balcony as he walked the first block and lost sight of him as he rounded the corner. Etan Patz was never seen again.

Etan Patz’s father was a photographer and had a lot of pictures of Etan on the day that Etan went missing. His father used the pictures to make posters so that anyone who may have seen Etan could contact Etan’s father. The pictures were very successful in generating tips about the missing boy and eventually a milk company placed his picture on a milk carton. Etan was the first child whose picture appeared on a milk carton all those years ago.

Etan was never found and has since been declared legally dead. But the power of pictures of missing children lives on. While it is difficult to understand why Etan was called home to God so soon, he did leave a legacy, the use of pictures in child recovery.

The statistics are staggering. One child in six featured in the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's photo-distribution program is recovered as a direct result of someone in the general public recognizing the child in the picture and notifying authorities. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children actually has a special campaign designed to raise awareness about the power of pictures. The campaign is called “Picture Them Home”.

To support this cause, it will cost you nothing more than a moment of your time. They simply ask that, whenever you pass a poster of a missing child, really look at it, whether it comes in your mail, is posted at your local post office, or you see it online. Make an effort never to be complacent about studying these pictures. One day, you might help bring a child home.

Thanks for your time.

Keen, Thank you for this post. It is good to remember. I remember the case very well, but hadn't realized the connection to National Missing Children's Day. I've worked with their Outreach Director for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and have found an able-bodied, caring, and intelligent group of people. May everyone remember.

This needs more publicity than it receives. This is such a wonderful (and simple) idea.