Attempted child kidnapping or abductions have been in the
media recently. In the past week alone, I have come across 3 attempted
kidnappings in the Pretoria area alone.
Take a look at this attempted kidnapping in Pretoria, South
Africa on 7 July 2014:
In this footage, you will notice how brazen the abductors
have become by turning their trade in broad daylight and in a public area.
According to South Africa’s Missing Persons Bureau, in 2013,
a child went missing every five hours in South Africa. This adds up to a total
of 1697 missing children in 2013. Fortunately, according to Missing Children South Africa (MCSA) statistics,
77% of children are found. Sadly, this still leaves us with at least 23% of the
children not being located.
MCSA is an organization that is dedicated to creating
greater awareness of missing children in South Africa and aims to support the South
African Police Service (SAPS )as effectively as possible when a child goes
missing.
In their reports, they group the reasons that children go
missing into 5 categories: Runaways; getting lost; parental abduction; stranger
abduction and unknown.
Although all 5 categories are of equal importance, the focus
of this blog will be on “stranger abduction”,
where the child is taken from the parents/guardians care without their permission,
by somebody not known by the family.
People kidnap children for various reasons:
- Cannot have children of their own;
- Lost their own child;
- Reason for revenge;
- Financial benefit;
- Human Trafficking (sex, drugs, etc.)
According to the International Labour Organisation it is
estimated that 1.2 million children are trafficked each year. Furthermore, 32
billion dollars profit is generated annually from Human Trafficking.
Although MCSA states clearly in their reports that their figures
are only based on cases reported to MCSA and do not reflect all the cases
reported to SAPS, due to a lack of other empirical data, we will assume that
their figure is a representation of the South African environment. In their June 2015 media release, the
estimated number of stranger abductions was 1.27% of all the missing children.
Using the 2013 figure of 1697 missing children (assuming there has been no
increase, however, chances are they have been), this translates to approximately
22 cases of abductions by a stranger.
To put in perspective, the “UK Child Abduction Hub“reported a total of 58 cases of abductions by
a stranger per in their 2014/2015 findings.
However, even more shocking is the US data: according to “Child Find of America”, in 1999, 2300
children went missing every day in the United States or approximately 840 000 children
per year. Of this figure, 58 200 were under the stranger abductions category. This
translates to almost 160 children abductions per day!
Should we want to translate those figures into comparable
ratios (by dividing the total number per annum by the total population of each
country, then multiplying by 100 000), the ratio of abductions by a stranger
per 100 000 people are:
- South Africa: 3.2
- UK: 0.1
- USA: 18.3
To see how easily a child can be manipulated into going away
with a stranger, watch this video clip of a social experiment done in America
where the hosts attempts to draw the child away using a puppy.
What can be done
to prevent your child from being abducted?
“Child Find of America” suggests 10 Ways to Protect Your
Child:
- Tell your child about the abduction problem in a calm, simple way as if teaching any other important coping skill.
- By age five, your child should know the names for private parts of the body, know the difference between "good touch" and "bad touch."
- Teach your child his or her full name, address, telephone number (including area code), and how to dial "911" for help or "0" for operator (the South African equivalents would be the SAPS, “10111”, or cell phone helpline, “112”).
- Keep your child in sight at all times. Most abduction occurs within a few blocks of the victim's home - even their own front yard - when the child is left alone and unsupervised (although not as applicable in South Africa, our shopping centres/malls seems to be the abductors’ preferred target areas).
- Adults rarely ask children for directions or help. Teach your child that if this happens, they should ignore the person asking and go home or to another safe place.
- Teach your child that a stranger is anyone they don't know well. Strangers can be kind and friendly, but they are still strangers.
- Do not purchase clothing or school supplies with your child's name on them. Knowing a child's name is a way for an abductor to establish a rapport with a child.
- Teach your child that it is okay to run away and scream if someone is making them do something they don't want to do. They should then go and tell you or a trusted adult what happened.
- Never leave your child alone in a car or unattended in a supermarket or shopping mall. Teach your child to go to the nearest store clerk for help if you get separated.
- Take head-and-shoulder photos of your child at least once a year.
Furthermore, some great advice from a South Africa,
organisation, Advance Conflict Training (ACT), is to create age appropriate
games and give each game a name. The name will trigger the safety habit that
you want your child to remember. For example the "Safe Word" game.
Have the child make up a safe word that you can give to friends who may pick
your child up from school. Roll play the "Safe Word" game with your
child (i.e. pretend that you have come to pick him/ her up from school). Make
up a convincing reason for you having to pick up the child but pretend you don't
know the Safe Word. Your child should refuse to go with you. Play this game
regularly using different stories and sometimes giving them the Safe Word.
Lastly, at a recent event, I taught a group of school children
aged between 7 and 12 years old the “You’re a STRANGER, I’m in DANGER!” song. A simple, fun, and effective song-based method
that teaches a child how to identify a stranger; how to use their voice and words
as a deterrent; how to execute some effective self-defence techniques; how to report
the incident and; how to escape the immediate threat.
All this can be taught in this simple song:
“You’re a STRANGER, I’m in DANGER!
I’ll scream and shout
I’ll kick and run
I’ll tell someone
I’ll dial “10111”
Agggggggg (Run and scream as loudly as possble)”
Watch the “You’re a Stranger, I’m in Danger!” song:
Keep your children safe out there.
Till next time.
Get EDUCATED. Feel EMPOWERED. Live a FULLY-ENGAGED life.
Warren Ho
Founder of Defence Unlimited
Defence Unlimited offers self-defence programs to groups
both large and small that are topic-specific that cater for beginner and
experienced practitioners alike. Our programs and workshops will leave you
educated, empowered, and ready to live a happier and fully-engaged life!
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References:
Missing Children
South Africa (MCSA) is an organization that is dedicated to creating
greater awareness of missing children in South Africa and aims to support the South
African Police Service (SAPS )as effectively as possible when a child goes
missing. www.missingchildren.org.za
UK Child Abduction
Hub is a national hub for information on child abduction, which is operated
by Parents and Abducted Children Together (PACT). www.childabduction.org.uk
Child Find of America
Inc. is a national not-for-profit organization that provides professional
services designed to prevent and resolve child abduction and the family
conflicts that can lead to abduction and abuse. www.childfindofamerica.org
Advance Conflict
Training (ACT) offers comprehensive personal protection programs include
Corporate Programs, Women’s Safety Programs, Family Safety Programs and Kid’s
Safety Programs. www.advancedconflict.com
CHILD ABDUCTION
(Social Experiment) - Child Predator by JoeySalads: https://youtu.be/gGIDHrYKJ2s
Attempted Kidnapping
in Pretoria, South Africa 7 July 2014 by Crime Watch: https://youtu.be/ay8QIFFnAgk
News reports:
https://www.issafrica.org/pubs/CrimeQ/No.14/Pharoah.htm
Population figures used for the ratio calculations (as per the World Bank):
SA 52.98 million (2013)
UK 64.1 million (2013)
USA 318.9 million (2014
Population figures used for the ratio calculations (as per the World Bank):
SA 52.98 million (2013)
UK 64.1 million (2013)
USA 318.9 million (2014
