http://www.independent.ie/opinion/ed...
Thursday April 16 2009
The creation of an American-style system for tracing missing or kidnapped children is, of course, welcome. In today's Ireland, children go missing more frequently than many people realise.
The initiative for the new 'Amber Alert' system began with the aunt of the missing Dublin teenager Amy Fitzpatrick when she presented a 20,000-signature petition to the EU Commission calling for such a system to be set up here and throughout Europe.
Amy disappeared in Spain last year.
Hopefully, enhanced co-operation between gardai, the media and various organisations will bring an end to the phenomenon of child disappearances from state care.
Some 401 children have gone missing while in state care in the last eight years.
It is an uncomfortable fact that child trafficking is a reality in this country and the Government has been accused in the past of failing to put measures in place to prevent it.
Vulnerable children are living in unsuitable accommodation with insufficient staff.
Almost one in five foreign children placed in HSE care go missing and are never found.
The disappearance of a child -- any child -- is heartbreaking, but there are lesser degrees of abuse too.
A recent UNICEF report ranked Ireland last out of 25 OECD countries for early childhood services.
It found that this country meets only one of 10 benchmarks setting minimum standards for protecting the rights of children.
The new early warning system for missing children is a reassuring development and, hopefully, will be followed by other badly needed initiatives.
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M.I.S.S. has opened the Missing Persons Helpline !! It was opened this week in Dublin !!
Support Us For A EuropeanAlertsystem 0 ReplysMISSING PERSONS HELPLINE No IS: 1890442552
Mobile 0877708112H
23/07/2008 http://www.dublinpeople.com/content/...
Support Us For A EuropeanAlertsystem 0 Replys23/07/2008
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