Criminal Abduction

Less than one per cent of missing children cases are due to third party abductions. In 33% of cases, the abductor is a stranger to the child with 45% of abductors known to the child, being a family member, a family friend. More specifically, 17% of abductors were the child's romantic partner. In the other 50% of cases, the abductor is someone close to the child: a lover, family member or acquaintance. Prevention should therefore emphasize empowerment of children to understand which strangers they can trust in an emergency and to be able to report any kind of misconduct including inappropriate touching, sexual abuse, or exploitation by improving communication and trust in their primary caregivers. While the majority of child victims of a criminal abduction are found alive, and within less than a week, up to a quarter of suspected victims of criminal abductions can remain missing for over a year. Parents of children whose fate remains unclear for such a long time may experience the complex type of grief called “ambiguous loss”, as they feel stuck between having hope for their child, and needing to grieve their loss to be able to move forward.