What you can do if your child goes missing

17 May 2017 - 14:20 By Nivashni Nair
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Profile your child‚ because having his or her eye and hair colour‚ weight‚ height‚ recent photograph and fingerprints on hand could prove crucial if a child goes missing.

"Not all parents are aware of profiling their children. That is why we as an organisation recommend it‚ because then parents have all the information‚ should there be an emergency situation‚" said Missing Children South Africa national case officer Bianca van Aswegen.

According to Missing Children South Africa‚ 181 children were reported missing from May last year to April 30 this year. Of those‚ 145 children were found.

  • Jouberton teen‚ burnt to death‚ knew her alleged killerFifteen-year-old Nombuyiselo Nombeu knew her killer‚ her family revealed on Tuesday. 

Van Aswegen said identity kits or profiles would ensure that no time was wasted on getting all the child's information in the event of a disappearance. Identity kits usually contain the child's weight‚ height‚ fingerprints‚ hair and eye colour‚ descriptions of scars and piercings‚ and a recent photograph.

The My Little Fingerprints project is growing popular since volunteer organisation The Pink Ladies were given the go-ahead‚ in conjunction with police and community policing forums‚ to publicly advise parents to fingerprint their children.

  • Courtney Pieters's suspected killer lived 'down the hall'The man arrested in connection with the murder of three-year-old Courtney Pieters was a boarder in her family's home, with a room near Courtney's "just down the hall". 

Pink Ladies co-director Jacqui Thomas said the law does not allow the information to be stored in a database‚ therefore the form is kept by parents.

"This information is extremely useful if or when a child is reported missing‚ as information is all in the same place and immediately accessible. It saves precious time‚" Thomas said.

-TMG Digital/TimesLIVE

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