Home invasions have made the news recently as a
frightening form of child abduction. This type of abduction
is not new, but it is starting to become more common as
traditional forms of child abduction are becomming less
effective.
This type of child snatching has parents panicked and
paranoid. After all, where is your child safe it not in their
own home? However, very few parents understand that
with a little safety training, this type of abduction can
usually be prevented just as easily as other forms of child
abduction.
How it works
An abductor will sneak into the child's home at night,
attempting to gain access to the child. He or she will then
either threaten the child with harm, or talk the child into
coming with them. The child is snatched out of their bed,
usually without a sound or commotion, and unfortunately,
is rarely seen alive again.
What it depends on
This type of abduction, is obviously a stealth abudction. It
is secretive, quiet, and depends on the child's compliance,
in one form or another. They need silent kids, period.
Defeating it
Noise. Plain and simple. Compliance gets a child nowhere,
they need to yell and make a ruckus. If a person did not
intend to physically harm the child, this will just scare them
off. Even if they did intend to harm the child, it is highly
unlikely, that in the commotion, the abductor will choose to
kill the child on the spot as opposed to run off. Silence with
kids is death. Yelling and screaming is life.
Training your kids
It is important that you sit down and talk with them about
this type of abduction. Tell them that if anyone ever awakes
them in the middle of the night, they are to scream as loud
as they can and call for help. They need to scream, kick the
walls, knock over furniture, make as large of a ruckus as
they can in order to yell for their parents and try to get away.
If the person grabs them and try's to run off, they should
hang onto doors, windows, whatever they can to resist.
Teach children to do this even if the person says they will
kill them if they make noise. Explain to them the reality
outlined earlier, that they are just saying that to get
compliance and will probably run off if you make noise. If
you go with them, they might kill you anyway.
A parents role
If at all possible, encourage children, especially younger
children, to sleep with their doors open at night. Parents
should also keep their doors open, (when not engaged in
extra curricular activities) so that they have a means to hear
their child if they happen to scream in the middle of the
night. Not only does this ensure you hear them in the rare
event that someone is in their room, but it will also come in
handy for the everyday night terrors and other needs that
your little ones require your assistance for.
Friends don't come a knocking in the night...
What many parents don't seem to realize, more likely of a
scenario than threats, is that the child willingly walks out
with the abductor because it is someone the child knows.
Around 60% of all children murdered are taken by a close
friend or relative.
It is important to teach children to never go anywhere with
anybody except their parents in the middle of the night. If
someone awakes you at night, it doesn't matter who they
are, you scream as loud as you can, and you get your mom
and dad, no exceptions. Teach children that there is never
any circumstance where someone they know would have a
need to enter their room or retreive them at night without
their parents knowing.
Additional resources
All parents should sit down at some point with their children
and go over this subject. Global Children's Fund also publishes
a book, "Something Scary Happened", which teaches kids
about what to do in this situation. Have a happy and safe
year!
For more important child safety and sexual abuse prevention information,
visit www.keepyourchildsafe.org
For more important child safety and sexual abuse prevention information,
visit www.keepyourchildsafe.org
