Who Can Help

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) encourages parents and guardians to take a proactive role in the safety of their children and offers some helpful tips, including:

 

What to Do Before 

  1. Understand potential risks before placing birth announcement in the local newspaper or online. Birth announcements should never include the family’s home address and should be limited to the parents surnames

  2. Have a recent color photograph of your child (and fill out the child identity kit now!) For infants, a full, front-face view is recommended along with footprints and a written description of the infant noting hair, eye color, length, weight, date of birth, and any unique physical characteristics. Remember that a child's physical characteristics changes every year until late teens; facial aspects, overall weight and size, and yes finger prints are constantly evolving as the body develops from child to adult. Update your child identity kits every year.

  3. Consider having a DNA sample taken from your child; at the minimum, take four or five hairs with the roots attached, and put them in a paper envelopment and staple to your child identity kit.

  4. Choose babysitters with care by obtaining references, checking in unexpectedly during a session and noting any changes in your child’s mood or behavior

  5.  As children mature and become verbal: ensure they know their full name, address and phone number; teach them how and when to call 911; require that they ask permission before leaving home.

  6.  Monitor your children's activities on the internet: direct your children to the right sites and off bad sites. Select well known helpful sites such as NetSmartzKids.org

What to Do in the Event of a Missing Child

ACT IMMEDIATELY if you believe that your child is missing.

·         If your child is missing from home, search the house checking closets, piles of laundry, in and under beds, inside large appliances, and inside vehicles, including trunks—wherever a child may crawl or hide.

·         If you still cannot find your child, immediately call your local law enforcement agency. Retrieve the appropriate child identity kit and have it ready for the local law enforcement representative.

·         If your child disappears in a store, notify the store manager or security office. Then immediately call your local law-enforcement agency. Many stores have a Code Adam plan of action— if a child is missing in the store, employees immediately mobilize to look for the missing child.

·         When you call law enforcement, provide your child's name, date of birth, height, weight, and any other unique identifiers such as eyeglasses and braces. Tell them when you noticed that your child was missing and what clothing he or she was wearing. Tell them you have a full child identity kit and that an officer should come by and pickup it up so it can be immediately entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Missing Person File.

·         After you have reported your child missing to law enforcement, call the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children on our toll-free telephone number: 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).  tact@Unitedips.com

K   Key Telephone Numbers:

      FBI Office in SW Florida:                                                  1-813-253-1000

      National Center for Missing & Exploited Children               1-800-843-5678

      National Runaway Switchboard                                          1-800-621-4000

L    Local Law Enforcement                                                      911

     

o p About United Investigations & Protective Services

United IPS is a full service, private investigative agency with headquarters in Cape Coral, Florida. United IPS provides services extensively throughout Florida and across the USA. Our private investigators have compiled many years of investigative experience at Federal and State levels and within the private sector.  Fully licensed and insured with a bi-lingual staff, United IPS utilizes up-to-date surveillance techniques and equipment to deliver results. All investigations are conducted in a strictly professional manner with complete confidentiality and integrity. United IPS can be reached at

2323 Del Prado Blvd

Suite 7-360

Cape Coral, Florida 33990

Toll Free:             888-411-1131

FAX:                   941-876-0590

Email :                 Contact@Unitedips.comitedips.com

Web:                   www.unitedips.com