"The Health and Human Services Department has a limited budget to track the welfare of vulnerable unaccompanied minors, and realized that 1,475 children could not be found after making follow-up calls to check on their safety, an agency official said."--- Time Magazine. The richest, most powerful country in the world cannot keep track of the children that they make into orphans by removing them from their parents at the border. OK. Let us put this in "perspective".
According to the FBI's National Crime Information Center Missing Person File, 36.5% or approximately 32, 121 that are missing are humans under the age of 18. Of course, these children were not the responsibility of the Federal Departments nor was their separation from their parents an action by the government. Data indicates that 90% of these are runaways.
The European Commission reports that 250 000 children are reported missing every year in the European Union, 1 child every 2 minutes. Runaways account for 57% percent of EU missing children. 23% were parental abductions.
The Internet has been a tool for luring children away, but it also has been a tool for finding them. Cell phones owned by children have been important in finding children who just get lost. We cannot blame it on technology.
Did the immigrant children go to a relative who is hiding them? Were they taken in by a foster family that is evil? Did the children run away in confusion and fear and are sleeping in the desert or the sidewalk? Is this part of a sex slave network?
I saw the movie Lion based on a true story a year ago and was deeply moved by the overpopulation and poverty in India that created a culture where children were treated like lost dogs.
I just wish we would fight for the rights of the born as much as we fight for the unborn.
It is a sad statistic. How could that many children have been lost?
ReplyDeleteScary and children are like our beloved pets (please I am not saying they are animals). They can't speak for themselves, can be lied to and they won't know. They are vulnerable and sex trafficking is a problem worldwide. Humans aren't all noble :(
ReplyDeleteVery sad indeed. It is hard to believe there is so much suffering in the world.
ReplyDeleteI believe the situation with the unaccounted for children can be laid squarely at the feet of this heartless government. they just don't give a shit. they separate these children from their mothers as some sort of punishment for them wanting asylum and after that they just don't care what happens to them. some are placed with relatives, some are placed with foster families and once placed, they turn their backs. if this is what makes us 'great' then we are a truly fucked up nation.
ReplyDeleteEvery child deserves a loving family. If they are taken from their family of origin, it needs to be for a very good reason, and they deserve to be taken in by a family that will do everything to love and help them.
ReplyDeleteNow how to get to that perfect world...
Amen to your last sentence!
ReplyDeleteSo sad. I have nothing else to add.
ReplyDeleteMany are back in Mexico, and someone is using them to make money. It's horrifying how ever you look at it.
ReplyDeleteThese statistics rarely make it into the general consciousness. Lost children are one of those facts from which we avert our eyes. Better not to know or see. Then we won’t feel guilty for not doing anything about their misery.
ReplyDeleteOh God, we live in sad times.
Thanks, you got that priority thing correct! i never heard those numbers tho. Large percent!
ReplyDeleteA runaway in another town was found down the street from my place due to the local FB group page! Many pets have been returned also!
I saw Lion as well ... great movie. We have a long way to go.
ReplyDeleteI surely do agree with your final point.
ReplyDeleteI'm back. I've missed your caring, thoughtful, and advocative posts.
ReplyDeleteI’m absolutely with you on this. It’s a sad, sad, sad situation.
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