Third Party Funding

This project aims to raise awareness of the 116 000 hotline for missing children in Bulgaria and to improve understanding of the causes and consequences of children going missing. It will promote the hotline’s services and the support available to children and families. 

The project includes an initial online survey to assess current awareness, followed by a targeted information campaign delivered through social media, campaign materials, and a dedicated landing page. A second survey will measure the campaign’s impact and inform future efforts. 

The Find Me ’26 Project aims to raise awareness of missing children in Croatia and promote the 116 000 hotline as a key tool for reporting information and supporting families. It encourages the public to take an active role in helping locate missing children through timely reporting and increased vigilance. 

The project combines a humanitarian run in Osijek, media campaigns, and public education to highlight the hotline’s importance, challenge misconceptions, and provide guidance on how to act. It also involves children through creative and sporting activities, fostering early awareness and participation. 

By building on previous successes, the project seeks to strengthen community engagement and ensure more people are informed and ready to respond. 

The From Protocol to Practice: A Policy Mapping for Missing Children in Croatia project aims to conduct a comprehensive analysis of Croatia’s national legal and policy frameworks for the prevention, reporting, and response to missing children. It will cover various categories, including runaways, parental and third-party abductions, children in migration without accompaniment, and children who are lost or injured. 

A key objective is to use the findings to advocate for the formal adoption of the Protocol on Procedures in Cases of Child Disappearance (Protokol o postupanju u slučaju nestanka djeteta), developed by CNZD and the University of Zagreb. Despite being submitted to the government, this protocol has not yet been adopted, leaving Croatia without a unified, legally grounded procedure for handling missing children cases. This project will identify critical legislative and policy gaps to make the adoption of the protocol feasible. 

The awareness raising campaign aims to increase public knowledge of the crisis helpline 116 000 and the services provided by Cesta z krize across the Czech Republic. The focus is to ensure that children, young people, and adults are aware of the immediate, free, and confidential help available in crisis situations such as family conflict, psychological distress, or missing children. Building on the success of previous outreach efforts, the campaign will primarily target audiences at music festivals and family-oriented public events, as these venues attract large numbers of individuals in need of support. 

The campaign aims to: 

• Raise recognition of the helpline number 116 000 and its associated services.  

• Encourage individuals to seek help sooner by showcasing crisis intervention effects.  

• Increase public understanding of crisis support services and missing children issues.  

• Expand the network of supporters and partners to help spread information about the helpline. 

The accessibility campaign aims to enhance the digital accessibility, clarity, and attractiveness of the organisation’s website, ensuring children and families can easily find and access support. The website will be modernized to improve user experience and meet current expectations, focusing on: 

• Clearer navigation for individuals in distress.  

• Easier access to the online crisis chat.  

• Improved readability and structure of key information.  

• Updated content on services and activities.  

• Optimised mobile experience.  

The goal is to reduce barriers for those seeking help and ensure both clients and supporters can quickly access relevant information and engage with the organisation. 

This project aims to raise awareness of the 116 000 hotline for missing children in Finland, focusing on parents, professionals in child protection, and young people. It will begin with a national survey to assess current awareness, followed by a targeted campaign addressing the risks of runaways, cross-border disappearances, and early support pathways. Special attention will be given to the dangers faced by runaway youth, such as violence, exploitation, and substance abuse, positioning the 116 000 hotline as a critical preventive tool and early intervention mechanism that aligns with EU child protection standards. A post-campaign survey will measure changes in awareness, ensuring broader recognition of the hotline’s importance in safeguarding vulnerable children. 

This project aims to raise awareness of the 116 000 hotline for missing children in Finland, focusing on parents, professionals in child protection, and young people. It will begin with a national survey to assess current awareness, followed by a targeted campaign addressing the risks of runaways, cross-border disappearances, and early support pathways. Special attention will be given to the dangers faced by runaway youth, such as violence, exploitation, and substance abuse, positioning the 116 000 hotline as a critical preventive tool and early intervention mechanism that aligns with EU child protection standards. A post-campaign survey will measure changes in awareness, ensuring broader recognition of the hotline’s importance in safeguarding vulnerable children. 

The project aims to improve accessibility to the 116 000 hotline for vulnerable children and families, focusing on those at risk of running away, children with literacy challenges, children and families with migrant backgrounds, and young people who may not feel comfortable making phone calls. 

To achieve this, the project will develop easy-to-read and youth-friendly materials that explain how and when to use the 116 000 hotline. It will also provide multilingual key information and pilot low-threshold digital contact options, including an anonymous chat service, as an alternative entry point to the hotline. These efforts will help ensure equal access to support and protection, in line with EU principles of non-discrimination and child participation. 

The Safe Space project aims to raise awareness about missing children in France and promote the 116 000 hotline. The campaign will be carried out in two phases: an online communication effort and the creation of a national barometer to assess public awareness. 

The online campaign will target parents, families, and child professionals through sponsored content on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. It will encourage proactive steps to prevent child disappearances and highlight the 116 000 hotline as a vital resource. 

In addition, a yearly survey will be conducted to measure public awareness of missing children issues and the 116 000 hotline, helping to identify knowledge gaps and inform future communication strategies. A post-campaign survey will assess the impact and changes in awareness. 

The project aims to foster a more engaged public, committed to preventing child disappearances and using the 116 000 hotline. 

The R.E.A.C.H. project aims to raise awareness about the 116000 hotline for missing children in Greece, focusing on educating pupils aged 8-15 about the services available to support children who are missing or have run away. The project will involve a baseline survey before and after the campaign to assess the pupils’ awareness of the hotline and the services provided by The Smile of the Child (TSoC).

Key activities include a major event on International Missing Children’s Day (May 25th), which will feature presentations by public authorities, foreign embassies, and professionals, alongside a demonstration of the services and tools used by TSoC. A three-day awareness event will also be held at TSoC’s Koropi premises, where pupils will participate in educational and recreational activities focused on prevention strategies for missing children. As part of the event, pupils will plant forget-me-not flowers in remembrance of missing children. The project aims to reach 200-300 pupils and 20 teachers, with a strong emphasis on increasing awareness and fostering community involvement in preventing children from going missing.

Building on the success of last year’s podcast series, this project will expand its reach through new vodcast episodes aimed at adults responsible for children, including parents, relatives, and professionals. It seeks to raise awareness of Kék Vonal and the 116 000 hotline, ensuring that more people know where to turn for guidance when a child’s safety or well-being is at risk. 

The project will support adults in recognising early warning signs of issues such as running away, violence, or abuse, while strengthening their confidence to seek help and respond appropriately. At the same time, the vodcast episodes will focus on the challenges faced by adolescents, offering relatable insights and practical coping strategies to help prevent violence and build resilience. 

By encouraging open and honest conversations between adults and children, the project aims to foster greater understanding and create safer, more supportive environments for young people. 

This project aims to develop an AI-based assistant for Kék Vonal to strengthen crisis intervention training for helpline operators. Designed to simulate real-life scenarios, the tool will imitate children in distress, allowing operators to practise communication and intervention techniques in a safe and controlled environment. 

Focusing on chat-based consultations, the assistant will make training more dynamic and practice-oriented by exposing operators to a wide range of realistic situations. Testing will involve both chat operators and members of the Youth Advisory Board, with a focus on usability and ensuring the realism of the virtual child persona. This will help refine the tool’s effectiveness, enhancing operators’ responsiveness and preparedness. Ultimately, the AI assistant will enable more effective and timely support for those reaching out for help. 

This project aims to develop an AI-based assistant for Kék Vonal to strengthen crisis intervention training for helpline operators. Designed to simulate real-life scenarios, the tool will imitate children in distress, allowing operators to practise communication and intervention techniques in a safe and controlled environment. 

Focusing on chat-based consultations, the assistant will make training more dynamic and practice-oriented by exposing operators to a wide range of realistic situations. Testing will involve both chat operators and members of the Youth Advisory Board, with a focus on usability and ensuring the realism of the virtual child persona. This will help refine the tool’s effectiveness, enhancing operators’ responsiveness and preparedness. Ultimately, the AI assistant will enable more effective and timely support for those reaching out for help. 

This project aims to raise awareness of the 116 000 hotline in Poland. By leveraging the potential of International Missing Children Day (IMCD) and supporting partners, the initiative will inform the public about the hotline’s importance in child safety. It will also raise awareness of how various forms of violence and abuse can lead to children going missing. In addition, the project will provide reliable knowledge on disappearances, parental abductions, and teenage runaways, while increasing understanding of prevention strategies and effective ways to communicate with and rebuild relationships with children once they are found. 

This project aims to strengthen cooperation among professionals involved in the prevention, response, and search activities related to missing children through structured multi-stakeholder dialogue. It will develop and promote joint advocacy recommendations based on practitioners’ experiences to improve national policies and responses to missing children’s cases. The initiative also seeks to enhance institutional recognition and cooperation between public authorities and the 116 000 hotline as a key child protection mechanism. By supporting child-centred and trauma-informed approaches, it will improve professional practices in addressing missing children and violence prevention. Additionally, it will increase practitioners’ engagement in policymaking processes at the national level, ensuring sustainable and evidence-based solutions. 

This project aims to debunk the myth that one must wait 24 hours before reporting a disappearance and to emphasise the importance of acting immediately. It demonstrates how a timely call to 116 000 can be decisive in preventing further harm. The initiative includes the distribution of a press release with an updated report on the 116 000 hotline in Spain, followed by media interviews and appearances. A comprehensive social media content plan will support the campaign, along with branded content on a digital media platform. The campaign will also be promoted through targeted social media ads to maximise outreach.