A child is missing at your church! How long will it take to know that child is missing, report the missing child, and start a missing child response? Do you have a missing child response plan at your church?
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says that of the cases they assisted law enforcement and families with, 92 percent were children who had run away. Four percent were children abducted by family members. While many factors put young people at an increased risk of going missing, there is no typical runaway.
Seventh-day Adventist churches can help protect children by:
- maintaining a safe space for kids to learn, grow, and share.
- having all children’s ministry volunteers trained in child protection and prepared to respond when children identify they are being harmed.
- having a missing child plan and practicing missing child drills, so if one of God’s lambs goes missing at your church, you are prepared to respond as quickly as possible to help find that child.
On Safety Sabbath all Adventist churches are encouraged to hold an annual safety drill. In 2020, the fifth anniversary of Safety Sabbath, Adventist Risk Management, Inc. will focus on Missing Child as the primary safety drill.
Safety Sabbath was created to help our church congregations be ready to act when emergency situations take place,” says Tim Northrop, president and chief executive officer of Adventist Risk Management, Inc.” For the fifth year of Safety Sabbath, we want to focus on being ready to protect our youngest members in an emergency situation that uniquely affects them. That’s why we’ve dedicated Safety Sabbath 2020 to focus on the Missing Child Drill. We invite all Seventh-day Adventist churches to take part in Safety Sabbath 2020.
The fifth anniversary of Safety Sabbath is scheduled for March 28, 2020. Adventist Risk Management, Inc. is here to provide everything your church needs to hold a missing child drill. Find FREE drill guides for church leaders and Sabbath School teachers, post-drill evaluation sheets, videos, and activities for children all at SafetySabbath.com. SUBSCRIBE here for additional checklists, reminders, and everything you will need to host your drill delivered straight to your email. If Missing Child is not your church’s focus this year, you can find resources for other trainings such as Fire, Active Shooter, Earthquake, and Tornado all at SafetySabbath.com.
NOTICE: Adventist Risk Management, Inc. (ARM) is encouraging churches to delay participating in Safety Sabbath, previously scheduled for March 28, 2020, until further notice.
Given the current climate much of the world is facing in light of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, ARM is reassessing the best timeframe for Safety Sabbath. Sign up to get more information at SafetySabbath.com.
References:
2018 FBI National Crime Information Center Missing Person and Unidentified Person Statistics:https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/2018-ncic-missing-person-and-unidentified-person-statistics.pdf/view
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: http://www.missingkids.com/footer/media/keyfacts
