May 25th is Int'l Missing Children's Day....In Jamaica, the Office of the Children's Registry (OCR) is marking the day with its usual effort to recover missing children. Reports can be made to the OCR, by calling within operating hours (Mondays - Fridays 7:00 am - 11:00 pm), or to the police.

 Monday, May 25, 2015    

Today is being observed as International Missing Children's Day.

The observance was launched in 1998 as a joint venture of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children and the United States' National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The day is used to remember missing and abducted children while celebrating those who have been recovered.

Children collect information pamphlets at an OCR event.

Here in Jamaica, the Office of the Children's Registry (OCR) is marking the day with its usual effort to recover missing children.

In addition to the weekly listing of missing children published in the Jamaica Observer, the OCR has reiterated the steps to be taken by families the minute they recognise that their children have gone missing.

They are:

* Reports should be made immediately after it is discovered that a child is missing. There is no wait time before a report can be made of a missing child.

* Reports can be made to the OCR, by calling within operating hours (Mondays - Fridays 7:00 am - 11:00 pm), or to the police.

* A recent photograph of good quality is very important, as without one it is extremely difficult for the public or the police to effectively identify the child.

* Parents must inform the OCR and/or the police after a child returns so as to prevent the child from being unable to travel overseas and benefit from other similar services, as existing systems are in place to set off alarms if a child who is seen as 'missing' goes to access any of these services.

Over the past year, the OCR's Ananda Alert Activities included:

* 10 Search and Rescue training sessions through funding from UNICEF Jamaica under the Violence Prevention Global Initiative. Two sessions were conducted in five parishes -- St Thomas, St Catherine, St Ann, Trelawny and St James. The more than 150 volunteers who were trained across the parishes received certificates of participation.

* Dissemination of missing and recovered alerts via

e-mails to all OCR/Ananda Alert partners.

* Distribution of information material, during school tours, to students, parents and teachers about types of abuse, how to protect against and report known or suspected cases of abuse.

* Presentations to church groups and other prescribed persons about types of child abuse and the care and protection of children.

* Global Media Services commenced broadcasting/ airing OCR/Ananda Alert public awareness messages on its Pharmacy network and select bill payment locations. more