When a child’s smile disappears
Occasionally, the disappearance of a child will make headlines around the world. But the focus on a few high profile cases gives a false impression about the extent of this heart-breaking problem.
The amount of media coverage about the disappearance of six-year-old Madeleine McCann, who vanished while on holiday in Portugal with her British parents, will have led many people to conclude that such events are rare.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Globally, children go missing – many never to be found again – or are abused or sexually exploited on a scale that is unbelievable.
Fortunately, in addition to police and government agencies, others such as charities and businesses also make a valuable contribution to tackling this scandal.
G4S Greece has just declared its active support for a project named “The Smile of the Child” which was established to meet the needs of children in despair, swiftly and efficiently.
It is likely that this initiative will eventually expand to involve everyone in G4S’s Central and Southern Europe (CSE)region.
One of the leading agencies working to reduce child abduction and abuse is Missing Children Europe: the European Federation for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children. Its president, Sir Francis Jacobs, has highlighted the need to develop existing national child alert systems and to introduce them where they do not exist.
“Abductions are not limited by national frontiers,” he pointed out. “The expansion of the Schengen area, the development of new technologies and the advent of fast, low-cost travel have further complicated the issue. We must supplement the national systems with cross border systems.”
Missing Children Europe’s independent administrator, Mrs Margaret Barosso, was one of the keynote speakers at a high-level round table meeting to address the problem, held in Athens, Greece, on 29 October. It was hosted by The Smile of the Child, a non-government organisation which supports children in danger and need in Greece.
G4S was also present, represented by Andreas Paterakis and Tina Lambrou, president and HR director respectively of the CSE region.
“There’s never enough we can do when it comes to the protection of children,” Mr Paterakis told the meeting. “We are dedicated to actively supporting The Smile of the Child in Greece. Their work is admirable, to say the least, and its results have an immediate impact on the children and families who are victims.
“Unfortunately the problem is increasing and geographical limitations to criminal activity are diminishing. Given the positive effect that alert systems, involving the media and law enforcement, have on the outcome of missing children incidents, we are evaluating the potential of assisting at a cross border level throughout our region, utilising our network of operations, our experience and relationships with local law enforcement agencies and, of course, the power of our 43,000 employees.”
One positive step already taken, through Greek operating company G4S Telematix, is to provide satellite tracking services to The Smile of the Child to increase its security and safety during the transportation of children and, at the same time, enabling them to monitor their fleet’s efficiency throughout Greece.
The Smile of the Child operates a round-the-clock national helpline for children and utilises 50 vehicles, transporting the children from the scene of an incident to national first aid centres and – if required – to one of its nine community homes which currently host 459 children whose family environment was deemed inappropriate by government child protection services.
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When a child’s smile disappears …
