Camera tip for lost children - originally posted on Carnival Board

[Cruisin'Allie]

When I am going to an unfamiliar place, or somewhere where there are a lot of people, I take a full length photo of my daughter in the clothes she is wearing that day (and every day of my trip if necessary). That way if anything happens and she disappears, I have a photo to give to the authorities. I've never had to do it, but I can only imagine how scattered I'd be trying to remember all of the little details while under such an emotional trauma. She is 14 and I still do it when we go to theme parks and I will definitely do it when we are on our cruise, even on sea days. (I'm the kind of person that NEVER goes anywhere without my camera!)

 

I don't remember where I heard it, but if it helps some child to be reunited with their family, it's worth it!

[musik07]

It's a great idea! I work at a science center and when we have missing kids parents often can't tell us what their child is wearing, or that they are wearing a light colored shirt. Make sure you get the shoes in there too! We do the Code Adam system and we were trained to always ask about the shoes because if a child were to be abducted and changed by the abductor they would me less likely to take a kids shoes off and spend the time putting a new one on and hoping to have the right size, a shirt would be quicker and easier. Most parents we deal with don't seem to remember what shoes they have on their child, and sometimes finding the kid in orange crocs is easier for us than finding the child with jeans and a white shirt.

 

I plan on doing this with my students when I start teaching, whenever we go on a field trip. Divide them into groups of four and have them pose for "pre-field trip" pictures. It would be a great record if anything like this happened! If i can't do pictures I will write down what all of my students are wearing on index cards, i deal with enough missing kids at work to want to be prepared if i am ever on the side of having the kid, or student, who is missing!

[dalitos]

Your tip reminded me of an article I read a while ago and found some of the ideas/tips there very useful. The article is in regards to safety when travelling (the title says to India, but it can be anywhere).

 

http://www.consumertraveler.com/today/its-india-do-you-know-where-your-children-are/

[CanadianTwosome]

We've got an amber alert repeating about every ten minutes on the radio here today, and when I went online to search for photos, my first thought was, 'That looks like a school picture; I'll bet she's not wearing that right now...'

 

I hope they find her. They seem to have a lot of information in the alert, so hopefully someone will see one of the individuals or the car they're assumed to be in.

 

I think it really illustrates what a good idea this is. Thanks Allie!

[snydermann]

This post gave me the chills.

 

It's so sad that this is a good idea, but it is that and easy to do too, thank you.