Missing Maria Aldridge

 The Birmingham media have really taken to heart, the case of missing Nurse Maria Aldridge who went missing 40 years ago.  Here is the link to their latest article on August 15^th.

 http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2009/08/15/birmingham-detectives-re-open-40-year-old-case-of-the-missing-nurse-97319-24446402/

We are asking for anyone who went to school at Kidderminster High leaving in 1966. If anyone who worked at Dudley Road Hospital recalls Maria, or anyone going missing, to please contact us.  What may seem insignificant to you, may be important to us in helping to piece together the puzzle of her disappearance. 

We would also love to hear from anyone who may have photos of Maria or with Maria as part of a group, as the last photos we have of Maria are when she was only 9 years old.

Parental Abductions

This month we have to tell you about  two more Parental Abductions, where the law has frighteningly fallen down once again, putting children in harms way.

Missing Liam McCarty

The case of missing Liam McCarty sounds like something from a bad movie and yet it is true, a nightmare his Dad Michael has to live through every day.

 http://www.saveliam.org

SaveLiam.org is a group of individuals who are deeply concerned about the welfare and safe return to the USA of Michael McCarty's son Liam Gabriele McCarty, who was kidnapped in March of 2007 and taken to Rome, Italy where he has been languishing in an Italian orphanage.

This appalling abduction was aided and facilitated by the Italian Consulate in direct violation of explicit court orders stating that Liam not to be removed from the United States. The kidnapper whom the Consulate assisted is Manuela Antonelli, a psychologically disturbed international fugitive, currently sought by Interpol and on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. She is also Liam’s mother.

For over two years Liam’s father and sole legal and physical guardian, Michael McCarty, has been embroiled in an emotionally and financially devastating international battle to try and protect his son and to see him safely returned to his proper home. In the course of this gruelling battle the Italian judicial system has blatantly refused to acknowledge Mr. McCarty’s legal parental rights as well as the orders, judgments and findings of the U.S. courts. More importantly this system has ignored Liam’s fundamental right to a competent and loving parent, inexplicably choosing to leave Liam as a ward of the state; a prisoner and forgotten victim of an ineffective system.

It is unacceptable that a little boy be kept in a foreign orphanage when he has a loving parent wanting to give him a proper home life.

Please help us get the word out that this little one needs help, fast.

Link to Liam`s  YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXuM_4IlXZM

Alexander & Christopher Watkins

This case is another horrendous example of the inability of the law to protect the children who need it most.  Their Father Stephen is still fighting to have his children returned to him.

http://alexander-christopher-watkins-missing.blogspot.com/

Alexander Watkins (7 yrs) and Christopher Watkins (4 yrs) were abducted by Edyta Ustaszewski Watkins (non-custodial mother) and her father, Tadeusz (Ted) Ustaszewski, during the weekend of March 6 2009, on a Court Ordered weekend access visit. 

Edyta’s father, their maternal grandfather, Tadeusz (Ted) Ustaszewski had driven Edyta and the children across the border at Buffalo N.Y. on Sunday March 8, and that she and the boys had flown from Rochester N.Y to Germany via Detroit while Thaddeus (Ted) Ustaszewski returned back to Canada.

The boys have permanently resided with their Father since December 2007, after the Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto (CCAS) apprehended the children over concerns of mental/physical abuse by the ex-wife, Edyta ( Ustaszewski ) Watkins and both her parents.

This final Order was issued despite the fact that both Judicial Judges, the Honorable Justice H. Brownstone and the Honorable Madam Justice G. Waldman, were fully aware through legal motions brought up by both Stephen’s lawyer and the CCAS during Family Court and throughout the full Custody Trial that Edyta had NO fixed address, was evading the CCAS and was still in the possession of 2 Canadian Passports issued to the children
in 2006 that had been ordered handed over to CCAS on numerous occasions.

Mrs. Terry Smith, Case Manager of CHILD FIND ONTARIO has been helping in these matters with Mr. John Durant, Executive Director, since almost 1-year prior to the abduction of Stephen’s children and shared that this is the first documented Canadian case to ever involve a Missing Person’s Organization by a concerned parent prior to an abduction.

Members of her extended family who reside in Chicago have confirmed that Edyta and the boys are now in Poland where she was born and still has family.

Age Progression - Ben Needham

The first programme in the series of Lorraine Kelly’s new Sky show Missing Children, featured the case of Ben Needham.

 http://tv.sky.com/missing-children-lorraine-kelly-investigates-ep-1

While it’s a great shame that the programme cannot feature every single case that currently exists, at least it is a step in the right direction, with the media finally recognizing the torture that families of the missing go through.

Another major outcome from the show is a new age progressed photo of Ben. What a miracle it would be if Ben saw this photo and recognized himself.

The Return of Jaycee Lee Dugard - Missing For 18 yrs

Why We Must Never Give Up Hope 

You are likely aware of the world breaking news of the recovery of Jaycee Lee Dugard.  Jaycee was abducted 18 years ago by two strangers whilst walking to her school bus stop in South Lake Tahoe. 

Whilst details are still emerging as to what happened over the last 18 years and we recoil at the horror of it, there is an important message of hope to be derived from this and other stories of missing children who have been recovered. 

Natascha Kampusch, is an Austrian schoolgirl who disappeared at the age of 10, she escaped her kidnapper eight years later in August 2006.

Danielle Cramer is a 15-year-old girl who went missing in June 2006.  She was discovered by police a year later, locked in a secret understairs cupboard in Connecticut when they went to arrest her kidnapper for her suspected murder.

Natasha Ryan, is a teenage Australian girl who had been missing for nearly five years reappeared during the trial of a man the prosecution said had confessed to murdering her.

Shawn Hornbeck was found last January when police in St Louis were searching for missing 13-year-old William Ownby.  They discovered both William and Shawn in a flat.  Shawn had last been seen aged 12 in October 2002.

Elizabeth Smart went missing in 2002 aged 14 in Salt Lake City.  She was discovered nine months later after a couple spotted her in the company of her kidnappers after recognising them from America’s Most Wanted. 

Charlene Lunnon and Lisa Hoodless were 10 years old when they went missing in Hastings, England for three days in 1999.  They were found after a suspicious member of the public alerted police after a massive police search failed to find them. A man was arrested.

Whilst these happy endings are not as common as we would like, it does give hope.  Along with the very loud and clear message that we should never give up searching.

Best wishes to Jaycee and her family as they begin the reunification process.    

NPIA Missing Persons Bureau

The NPIA Missing Persons Bureau (MPB) works alongside the police and related organisations to improve the services provided to missing persons investigations and increase effectiveness.

The Bureau is part of the Crime Analysis Unit within the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA).  The NPIA is a non-departmental public body (NDPB) sponsored and funded by the Home Office, with its executive leadership drawn from the police service. As a policing organisation, the NPIA acts as a central resource to Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), Association of Police Authorities (APA) and police forces, working with authorities and the Home Office to help improve the way policing works. The previous unit, the Police National Missing Persons Bureau (PNMPB) was located within the Metropolitan Police Service, the Bureau transferred over to the NPIA on 1^st April 2008.  The Bureau's first year has seen a lot of activity but there is still much to do and we will continue to provide our support where it's needed to ensure every effort is made to find those missing.

The Bureau primarily serves the UK police forces and acts as the centre for the exchange of information connected with the search for missing persons nationally and internationally.  The Bureau provides a free cross-matching service to police officers investigating cases of missing persons to assist with matching up details of missing persons cases with unidentified person or body cases across the UK. We maintain a database of:

• all persons missing in the UK for over 72 hours, or sooner where the force feels the case warrants more urgent attention
• all foreign nationals reported missing in the UK
• all UK nationals reported missing abroad
• all unidentified bodies or persons found within the UK
• all unidentified bodies or persons believed to be UK nationals found aboard

We use this database to help match unidentified bodies/persons to reports of missing persons.   Other key activities include:

• Maintaining records of missing persons and unidentified persons/bodies to provide an investigative support service to police.
• Maintaining a dental index of ante-mortem chartings of long term missing persons and post-mortem chartings from unidentified bodies.
• NPIA also hosts the missing persons DNA database
• Managing Missing Kids website designed to assist missing children investigations www.missingkids.co.uk
• Managing and co-ordinating the Child Rescue Alert service.

The Bureau works with the police but is unable to receive reports of missing people directly from the public, so if someone you know is missing and you want to report their absence you need to contact your local police station.  We will then support the force in their investigation.  We are always happy to answer queries from members of the public.

The Bureau produces the national guidance on managing, recording and investigating missing persons for the police on behalf of ACPO.  The Bureau is currently running consultation events with both the police and families of missing persons in order to inform best practice, a new version of the guidance and to inform our future work.

The Bureau also works alongside other government departments in order to carry out strategic projects in the area of missing persons.  For example the Bureau assisted with the development of the Department for Children, Schools and Families Young Runaways Action Plan and the missing from home and care guidance. 

The Bureau is also keen to work with missing related charities and supported Forever Searching’s International Missing Children’s Day events this year.  The Bureau also works closely with other charities for example, Parents and Abducted Children Together and Missing People.

Contact us:

Missing Persons Bureau, Foxley Hall, Bramshill, Hook, Hampshire RG27 0JW

Phone: +44 (0)1256 602979 Fax: +44 (0)1256 692571

Email: missingpersonsbureau@npia.pnn.police.uk

Web:  www.npia.police.uk/mpb

Missing Kids Freephone: 0808 100 8777

The Missing Persons Bureau Team

Florida Missing Children's Day

Florida Missing Children's Day is taking place on September 14, 2009 at the Oasis Church, Pembroke Street in Florida.  For more information, please check out :

http://www.MissingChildrenMinistries.Org

Get Involved

It would be totally unrealistic to think or believe that any one of us could single handedly to 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 to 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`s 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 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 for 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 - do raffles - hold church events - donating the proceeds. If you are interested please contact: register@foreversearching.com   

All we ask is that the person is over 16 years of age and that they are computer literate.