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Keeping Kids Safe From Abductors
Most of the more than 350,000 children abducted in America each year are
taken by relatives. Random abductions by strangers are rare but terrifying.
Experts offer the following tips to parents for trying to avoid stranger abduction:
Teach your children in whose car they may ride. Children should be cautioned never to approach any vehicle, occupied or not, unless accompanied by a parent or trusted adult. If a stranger asks for directions or assistance, the child should tell them to ask an adult.
Create an atmosphere in your own home where your children feel safe confiding information about uncomfortable experiences. Ensure a sense of confidence in your children that you will believe them and be responsive to them if they need your help.
Tell your child not to go out alone -- always take a friend, sister, or brother. Teach them always to tell an adult where they are going, and never to take a ride with someone they don't know.
Discuss with your children whose homes in the neighborhood they can visit, and the boundaries of where they can and can't go in the neighborhood.
Make sure your children know their address and telephone numbers, and how to use the telephone. Be sure they know what to do in an emergency, and, if appropriate, how to reach you using cell phones or pagers. Make certain they do not tell anyone who calls that they are home alone.
Don't drop children off alone at malls, movies, video arcades or parks.
Child safety experts say there are concrete things parents can teach
their children to make them more aware of the dangers of walking away
with a stranger.
According to Ken Wooden, a child safety expert who has interviewed
more than 1,000 sex offenders and abductors, the biggest mistake
parents make is to think it's enough to tell children, "Don't talk to
strangers."
"In the eyes of a kid, a stranger is some character who's very scary
and a monster type," said Wooden. In reality, though, molesters can
look like ordinary, friendly, engaging adults, Wooden warned.
The 'Pet Lure':
As part of his research, Wooden studied the tactics that predators
use to lure children. He identified 16 "lures" commonly used by child
molesters and abductors.
John Wayne Gacy, who killed more than 30 boys near Chicago in the
1970s, used something Wooden calls the "job lure." Gacy would ask his
victims to run errands for him and then come to his house to get
paid.
Serial killer Ted Bundy is believed to have lured one of his victims,
12-year-old Kimberly Leach, by using an "emergency lure." He tricked
the girl by telling the girl her house was on fire and she should
follow him.
Predators often win a child's trust by asking for their assistance,
such as asking directions, or, in what Wooden says is a common ploy,
the "pet lure." That was the tactic apparently used by the abductor
in the Runnion case. Runnion's 5-year-old friend, who witnessed her
abduction, told police the man approached the girls by asking if they
had seen his Chihuahua.
Lures Shown to Be Effective
Wooden demonstrated the effectiveness of such lures for a Primetime
segment in 1993. With permission from the children's parents, he
played the role of a predator using his "lures" to try to persuade
children to leave an Arlington, Va., playground.
Before going to the playground, 7-year-old Patrick Beard told his
mother, as she had taught him, that he would "kick and scream and run
in the other direction" if a stranger asked him to go somewhere.
But when Wooden approached him in the playground and asked his name,
he immediately answered, "Patrick."
Then Wooden continued, using a lure an Oklahoma molester had used to
win the trust of a child he assaulted in 1990. Showing Patrick a
photograph of a dog, Wooden said: "Here, Patrick, my little puppy.
His name is Shorty, and we're looking for him. He answers to the
voice of little girls and little boys. And we're offering a reward of
$10. Could you help look for him?"
Patrick took the picture, looked around and yelled Shorty's name,
then followed Wooden out of the park. Patrick's mother Debbie Beard,
who was watching via a video link-up, was horrified. "This is
something I'll have to discuss with him much more thoroughly than I
ever thought I would have to do," she said.
The same trick worked with four other children, including 5-year-old
Mika Netherton. Afterward, when her mother asked her sternly what she
was supposed to do if a stranger approached her, Mika knew the right
answer — run away — but didn't seem to think it applied to the man
with the dog. "He wanted me to find Shorty," she said.
Wooden, who runs a program called Child Lures Prevention that is
taught in schools, said children should be drilled on the common
lures the way they are taught an academic subject.
More Child Safety Tips
Child safety experts suggest these tips for parents to help make
their children wary of strangers:
Tell your children that a stranger doesn't necessarily mean someone
who is scary or mean. They should never go with someone they don't
know, even if that person seems nice. Even if they do know the
person — a bus driver or a teacher — they should never go anywhere
with someone unless you, the parent or guardian, have told them it's
OK.
Teach your children that if something seems wrong, they can say no
to an adult, even someone they know.
Don't put your child's name prominently on clothes or a backpack.
An abductor can then call them by name.
Tell your children never to go near a car if a stranger calls them.
Keep a current picture of your child, of how he or she looks now.
For More Information Contact:
Carousel Corner Preschool and Childcare Center
5345 Carousel Lane SE, Port Orchard, WA 98366-3800
Tel: 360-871-7572
FAX: 360
Internet:
info@carouselcorner.org
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