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Facebook to help find missing children

The organisation for missing and abused children Child Focus, the Federal Police Missing Persons’ Cell and Facebook are joining forces with Child Alert, a that will in future be able to spread reports of missing children to all users of the social media site Facebook. It is hoped that this will ensure that the missing child is found more quickly.

Facebook will alert all its 7 million Belgian account holders when it is feared that the life of a missing child is in danger.

A prosecutor or an Examining Magistrate will decide when a Child Alert is to be sent. In that case each and every Facebook user in Belgium will be receive a message about the disappearance on their personal time line.

The message will display a photograph of the missing youngster and other important information such as what he/she was wearing and the place where he/she was last seen.

Belgium is the 17th country in which Facebook has been involved launching such a system. Elsewhere, the system is called AMBER Alert after a girl that went missing 22 years ago in the American state of Texas.

The Child Alert system was first launched by Child Focus in 2011 as a ultimate means to try and find a missing child. In the 7 years since its launch it has been used just twice.

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