May 24, 2004

East Lansing - The familiar adage, "A picture is worth a thousand words" couldn’t be truer when it comes to missing kids. In recognition of the 1,457 missing juveniles from our state, Governor Jennifer M. Granholm has declared Tuesday, May 25, as Michigan’s Missing Children’s Day.

Since 1983, families and child advocates nationwide have observed National Missing Children’s Day on May 25, the day six-year-old Etan Patz disappeared from a New York City street corner on his way to school in 1979. His case remains unsolved and is an annual reminder to the nation to renew efforts to reunite missing children with their families and to make child protection a national priority.

"There are over 1,400 missing children from Michigan and we want to raise public awareness about the role each of us can play in helping to reunite them with their families," Governor Jennifer M. Granholm said today. "We are encouraging all Michigan residents to stop and look carefully at the pictures of missing children and report to their local police departments or the Child Locator Tip Line if they have information that might help bring that child home."

One reason Etan Patz’s case quickly received the attention of local and national news media – even before cases of missing children routinely garnered such attention – is that his father is a professional photographer, and Etan’s black and white portraits were quickly disseminated in an effort to find him.

"Etan’s case is a reminder to parents of the need to have high-quality pictures of their children readily available in case of an emergency," stated Col. Tadarial J. Sturdivant, director of the Michigan State Police. "The public plays an important role in the search for missing children. We can each do our part by ensuring that we really take the time to look at pictures of missing children and report possible matches to law enforcement."

Another component of Missing Children’s Day is the "Picture Them Home" campaign. "Picture Them Home" is an on-going initiative to raise awareness about the power of pictures and their importance in the search for missing children. This initiative asks citizens to pledge to really take the time to look at pictures of missing children, whether the pictures come in your mail, are posted at your local post office or you see them online.

The Family Independence Agency would like to remind citizens that pictures of missing runaways or children who were possibly abducted can be viewed online at http://www.mfia.state.mi.us/awol/.

"The safety of all missing children is of utmost importance to our agency and the families we serve," said Marianne Udow, director of the Michigan Family Independence Agency. "The photos posted on FIA’s web site are of children missing from the state’s child welfare system. I encourage Michigan’s citizens to visit FIA’s web site to help us find those missing children as quickly as possible."

Anyone with information on a missing child is asked to call the toll-free Child Locator Tip Line at 1-866-729-0026.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Sgt. Greg Jones, MSP Prevention Services Section, (517) 333-4017

Ms. Stepheni Schlinker, Family Independence Agency, (517) 373-7394

Read more press releases from the Michigan State Police.