To wonder about all the missing children FB posts

[Trilllllian]

There seem to be so many missing children posts on FB. I don’t think I have a particularly over ‘social sharing’ bunch of FB friends but FB is throwing them up in my timeline itself.

Just now a two year old missing, yesterday 11 year old.

AIBU to think one of the following:

A) Some/most are fake troll posts

B) some are actually a case of one parent not returning child when expected after a breakup (but this isn’t publicised because they still need sightings reported even if child is with DF or DGM)

C) they really are missing and I’m desensitised to it and now ignore them

D) they really are missing and the media isn’t reporting them unless it’s a sensational story.

I worry about the privacy of the child. Many of them are shared for years after they’ve been safely found, which means the poor kid has their face splashed all over social media for years to come. And yeah, lots of them are in the USA or other counties, so sharing them when most of your friends are across the ocean is pretty stupid.

Although I get more missing cats on my timeline than missing kids. Usually ones that are hundreds of miles from me.

It all helps to feed our fear. I dont use Twitter or Facebook so this is new to me, I didnt know this was a thing. I am reassured by the balanced approach taken by posters.

Our local police regularly share requests for leads about missing children on social media. Thankfully they've all been followed up by a 'found safe and well' updates, but I used to wonder where the young people had been.

Within the past year, about half a dozen of the local notices have been about young people I know. (Either acquaintances of my teenage children or young people I have worked with). Thankfully all were found safe and well within 72h.

The reason seems to fall into two categories:

• Young person goes to stay with a friend (sometimes after an argument at home) and hasn't told parent/carer where they are.

• Young person is invited to hang out with new acquaintances at a house or hotel. Take-away food and alcohol are provided, sometimes drugs. New acquaintances are being bribed/paid by adult men to do this.

I worry that it’s some sort of challenge amongst young ones to see how pong they can go missing for and how much publicity and social media thry can get. So often they turm up safe and well after two or three days.

Long! Not pong... - fat fingers 🤦‍♀️

- Young person goes to stay with a friend (sometimes after an argument at home) and hasn't told parent/carer where they are.

We experienced this last summer, A neighbour boy, friend of DS invited a girl to come over for the day. All aged 13. She lived about 30 miles away and her parents thought she was at an event for a hobby she does for the day. When she didn't come home her parents tried to contact her but she turned off her phone. Eventually she had missed the last bus so she slept at the house of a neighbour girl she had just met that day. She had spent the day hanging around with this boy, DS and other kids on the road. She'd been in my house to use the loo and in my garden. I was home all day but hadn't realised that she wasn't local.
I found out about all of this the next day. I kind of know her mother so I managed to get her number to tell her what I knew but she was back at home by then.
Her parents were so flakey. They hadn't even been that worried....about a 13 year old.....missing all night.....????

""I would have expected in case B though they would have a dedicated number, rather than routing it through the emergency number.""

The problem is hoax callers, so the Police would rather screen the calls via the emergency number and is it is a sighting, they can get there fast. That's what I was told when my six year old went missing (15 years ago).

There have been a few whose body have been found and tbh, I wouldn't wait for the Police to share it, time is crucial.

I seem to have a lot of Vulnerable Adults. One man was found a couple of days later, but sadly died of hypothermia.

""I worry that it’s some sort of challenge amongst young ones to see how pong they can go missing for and how much publicity and social media thry can get""

That's not what is happening local to me. The Teens that go missing are very troubled Kids, getting into addictions etc.

FabulouslyFab in the cases I knew about, the young people were not thinking about that at all. It took 1-2 days for police to locate them, ensure they were safe and bring them home. If young people have been targeted for exploitation, the police also need to interview them and gather evidence.

""Her parents were so flakey. They hadn't even been that worried....about a 13 year old.....missing all night.....????""

The people who she stayed with are equally at fault.

An under 14 shouldn't be ignored.

You are right to be sceptical. I heard a paedophile was trying to track down a victim he had abused by showing a photo and pretending the child was lost.

BlancheM

Domestic abuse is behind most of them.

Got any facts to support that generalisation or is it just your misinformed opinion?

If a one year old was 'missing' missing, it would be all over the papers. Someone is trying to track down the child, who is probably with his mum. Weird.

Yes, Pengggwm. A one-year-old is never going to be ‘travelling’ somewhere, so why don’t they share who he’s suspected of being with?

CiaoBellaCiao34

Indeed.

A lot of the teenage ones are grooming victims I have been told. Child sexual Exploration .

I have never seen anything like this before but the 1 year old child alert did pop up in a separate box today, with no indication of source. There is an option to hide it and other alerts.

I wonder if this action is being trialled ? I am a very, very low level FB user - high privacy settings, never originate own posts, minor comments on friends( who are friends IRL ) personal posts, minor interactions on secret or closed groups to do with work or pasttime interests, never share or repost and no political or news follows and no alerts ie I only go and check it out very occasionally. I don’t think that makes me an active communication vector . Curious .

No none at hand sorry and no.
It's sadly true though, like most posters have said here.

That was to Great.