A year ago, many of us were not as aware of the bigger
issue of missing children than we are to-day. We knew children went missing,
of course we did, but for a lot of us, we looked upon this as not being our
problem, did not affect us personally, we would do the usual "how terrible" and
move on and live our lives, putting it out of our minds.
The world changed for many of us, the night
Madeleine McCann was abducted. For the majority we can assume it was the "Why" - why
would someone want to take a sleeping 3 year old, from her bed, what was their
motive...the thoughts of all the possibilities compelled many people to do
something, anything to help bring this little girl home.
Many turned to internet forums, to discuss and chat about
the possibilities of what happened to Madeleine, but for 5 woman all
strangers to each other, wanted to do more than just talk about it. They
wanted to raise awareness to all missing children, so they founded "Forever
Searching", a group who would attempt to raise public awareness to missing
children, no matter of age, country, colour or circumstances.
That was one year ago - 15 September 2007
What have they achieved in the last year - the group have
mailed out in the region of 150, 000 awareness mails, have over 50 cases
where they are actively working with the families on raising awareness. The
group have been awarded charity status for tax purposes.
On the 15th September 2008 - Members released balloons from
various locations in recognition of the group's anniversary - and in honour of
those that the group stand for - the Missing.....Yellow balloons - Amber Alert
- Green balloons for Hope....
Karen Holding Some Balloons Ready For Release
Get Involved
It would be totally
unrealistic to think or believe that any one of us could single handedly go
out there and trace a missing child and bring them home. However, there are a
number of other ways we can get involved in raising awareness of a missing
child.
Offer your skills
- Are you in Media? You could print articles on various cases and issues
pertaining to the bigger issue of the phenomenon of missing people. Let us face
it, Media are the ones with the biggest power to raise awareness. Are you a
Journalist or a writer? Offer to write articles on various cases or articles
about the bigger issue. Are you a lawyer? Families need advice. Specially
where a child has been taken across borders. Are you a counselor? Families
need professional advice on how to cope with life in the aftermath of their
loved one going missing.
Offer the services of your
business- Are you in the trucking business - you could help
distribute posters of the missing, putting them up on your route. Are you a
printer? You could help with the printing of posters of the missing. You could
help with leaflets and pamphlets raising awareness of the missing. -
Web-design? Families need to set up a web-site for their loved one. Are you a
musician? Dedicate a concert to the missing - using the concert to raise
awareness to the missing.
Put up posters of the
missing - Print off posters and put them up in public areas - shop
windows - car windows - supermarket notice boards - hospital notice boards -
any where and every where - this is the key to any missing persons case - they
need to be seen.
Fund Raise
- Help raise funds for printing of posters, for postage costs, for stationary
costs. Funding is always an issue for groups such as ours - fund raising is
vital to success - lack of funding restricts us in what we need to do to get
the faces out there. You could hold jumble sales - car boot sales - raffles
- hold church events - donating the proceeds.
Volunteer -
Help us mail - 150,000 appeal mails were sent by the members of Forever
Searching over the last 12 months - help us double that figure in the year
ahead - volunteering with Forever Searching is quite simple - send an
e-mail to register@foreversearching.com.All
we ask is that the person is over 16 years of age and that they are computer
literate.
Parental
Abduction
How often has it been said "At
least the child is with a parent, what is the problem"?.
Just because a child has been
abducted by a parent, does not make the abduction acceptable.
Let us take a few minutes and
think of the child.................the innocent victim
Torn away from a life that they
know, ripped away from everything that was familiar to them. Torn from the
family members they loved and felt secure with, from their routine, from their
friends, down to the material goods that made them feel secure and grounded.
Taken to a life of running and hiding.
What level of normality can a
child, who is the victim of parental abduction, expect to have? What are these
children told as to why they can no longer see their other parent and family
members? Their mother or father is dead? That they are a bad person?
The emotional, psychological and physical impact on children is often so
significant that family abduction is considered a form of child endangerment.
Children who live through this type of abduction, often suffer severe lifelong
emotional and psychological damage
An act of unconditional parental love? or an act of supreme selfishness? The
biggest motive for parental abduction is revenge, making this type of
abduction one of the worse types to deal with. Its not about love - it is about
power.
Most parents who find themselves
having to deal with this type of abduction, possibly never imagined that
something like this could happen to them. Most people assume that if a child
is abducted, that it is usually by strangers. Statistics reveal that parental
abductions are much more common than stranger abductions.
Putting the emotive side of this
issue aside, abduction is a CRIME, even if the child is your own. The parent
who has taken the child, has done so illegally, and in the majority of these
cases an arrest warrant will be in place.
If you started reading this with complacent thoughts around Parental
Abduction, we hope your mind is now at least open to the realities.
Written in honour of the following
children who are the innocent victims of parental abductions:
Sabrina Allen -
USA - Abducted by her non-custodial mother, Dara Marie Llorens. April 2002.
Sigourney Teresa Chisholm
- Canada - Abducted by her mother Patricia O'Byrne in May 1993.
Adam, Trevor and Mitchell
O'Brien - Canada - Abducted by their father Gary O'Brien in
November 1996.
Caroline Teague -
USA - Abducted by non-custodial mother Alejandra Urdaneta in January 2002.
Keoni, Lance and Mason
Fernandez - USA - Abducted by their non-custodial mother, Francina
Fernandez in November 2004.
Who Loves Teddy Bears?
Aaah - who does not love a good
old Teddy?
Meet Super Ted - our newest
member to the Forever Searching team - cuddly and warm....Handsome fellow
do you not think? Ted is a symbol of comfort - a symbol of cuddly
gentleness and security.
We have a limited number of
Super Ted's available - fancy one?
Going price is £15 GBP. All
monies received will go towards the Forever Searching Group, to help with
raising awareness campaigns.
How many of you are aware that
Forever Searching have their own YOU TUBE channel -
Forever searching kids
All awareness video's are
uploaded to this channel - Please have a look - leave some comments - helps
the channel gain popularity on You Tube.
If you have a You Tube account
please subscribe to our channel and distribute our work....you can access the
channel HERE
We have some really good events
coming up - Please try and support if you can.....put the dates in your
diaries - you will not want to miss them.........
Lux Perpetua - USA
Date: Sunday, November 2,
2008
Time: 7:30pm - 9:00pm
Location: St. Mary's Cathedral
of the Immaculate Conception
Street: 1716 NW Davis
City/Town: Portland, OREGON
A concert of beautiful music
and word to remember the missing. Admission is free, but donations will go to
aid the international missing persons advocacy group Forever Searching:
http://www.foreversearching.com
The music will range from classical to jazz and pop. The event will be held in
stunning St. Mary's Cathedral, one of the most beautiful of the city's
churches.
The list of performers currently include: St. Mary's Cathedral Choir
Douglas Carl Schneider, Organist
Angela Niederloh, Mezzo Soprano
Tuesday Rupp, Mezzo Soprano
Katie Taylor, Soprano
Rachel Taylor Brown, Soprano
Vanessa Jump Nelson, Soprano
April Brookins Duvic, Soprano
~~~~~~~~~
Rock Against Child Pornography
Gig - UK
Date:
Wednesday November 5, 2008
Time: 8:00pm -
12:00
Location: The Cavendish
Arms
Street: 128 Hartington
Rd, Stockwell
City/Town: London, United
Kingdom
A Prayer For The Missing
Heavenly Father,
I lift up all the missing children and young adults to you.
You intimately know each and
every one represented here.
Your eyes are continuously
roaming the earth and nothing is hidden from You.
Father, we pray for the
investigators that are working on all these cases.
We pray for acute discernment
Father and for divine revelation regarding these cases. Father, bring in those
that You would have appointed into each and every situation.
Father, bring to light all that
has been hidden in darkness.
Bless the families Father,
grant them the grace to stand during their trials and have mercy in Jesus'
name.
Open the doors Father, and
bring forth the clues so that there can be closure for those who need it in
Jesus' name.
Fill them continually with hope
and faith Father in Jesus' name.
Amen
A Few Short Riddles
1. What kind of words are the
following: Level, civic, madam and eye.
2. What can go up a chimney
down but not down a chimney up?
3. What is the shortest
complete sentence in the English language?
4. I arrive once in every
second, once in every minute and once in every year. What am I?
5. What always ends
everything?
6. If you have me, you want
to share me. If you share me, you haven't got me. What am I?
7. How could a cowboy ride
into town on Friday, stay two days, and ride out on Friday?
8. The man who makes it does
not need it. The man who buys its does not use it. The man who uses it doesn't
know he is. What is it?
9. It regulates our daily
movements, but it feels no interest in our lives. It directs us when to come and
go, but does not care if we pay attention. What is it?
Answers Next Month
Answers To Last Months - Find The Word
1)
Dreamt
2) Tremendous,
horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous
3)
There are at least
four words: Muumuu, vacuum,
continuum, and residuum 4)
Charcoal
5)
There are at least
two: facetious and abstemious
6) The sound found in the
following words: vision, version,
treasure, pleasure
7) Uncopyrightable (15
letters) 8)
Abstemiously
Quote Of The Month
“We must
remember that one determined person can make a significant difference, and that
a small group of determined people can change the course of history.”
