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CNN Live Today
Child Safety Laws
Aired April 30, 2003 - 10:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk with a man who was behind that ad campaign you heard mentioned in Kathleen's report. He's with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which also played an important part in the case of that missing North Carolina boy, Tristen Myers. And in fact, if Myers has been found in Chicago, it could be in fact thanks to the center's Web site. Joining us now is Ernie Allen. He is president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
You just saw him in that piece there.
Ernie, good to see you this morning. And glad to talk to you about this, which may be some good news here, but we don't want to jump the gun here, but a lot of the indications that we're getting from the family members in North Carolina is that they believe this boy found in Chicago is theirs. How is it that your center got involved in the search to begin with?
ERNIE ALLEN, NATL. CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: Well, Leon, we were involve interested day one. We learned about the case. We circulated photos of Buddy Myers all over America and around the world. We have generated leads. We worked with Samson County law enforcement in North Carolina. And in this instance, even though Buddy had been missing 2 1/2 years, an alert, concerned social worker in Illinois was just concerned that this picture wasn't as it appeared to be. So she went to our Web site, missingkids.com, contacted us with her suspicions, sent us photos of the child, and we are very, very hopeful that this child in Illinois may in fact be Buddy Myers.
HEMMER: Any idea how often that happens in hospital across the country, where someone inside of a hospital will look at a child that's been brought in there, and will then immediately think to go check your Web site?
ALLEN: Well, it probably doesn't happen very often. And I think this is a case study not just for professionals, not just health care professionals and social workers, but for every citizen. If you have suspicion, go to the Web site and look at the pictures. Children are coming home in record numbers because of caring people who take that minute to check.
HEMMER: This is -- how often have you ever found a child found after 2 1/2 years?
ALLEN: Not as frequently as children recovered in a day or the week following their disappearance. But there's another message here, and that's a message of hope for the families who are searching for missing children. These kids could be anywhere. There are a variety of circumstances under which they could disappear. We need to keep hope alive to bring more of these children home.
HEMMER: It looks like hope has been kept alive for that family in North Carolina. Ernie Allen, thanks for coming in and talking with us about it. The Web site, in case you folks are interested, is missingkids.com.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 30, 2003 - 10:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk with a man who was behind that ad campaign you heard mentioned in Kathleen's report. He's with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which also played an important part in the case of that missing North Carolina boy, Tristen Myers. And in fact, if Myers has been found in Chicago, it could be in fact thanks to the center's Web site. Joining us now is Ernie Allen. He is president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
You just saw him in that piece there.
Ernie, good to see you this morning. And glad to talk to you about this, which may be some good news here, but we don't want to jump the gun here, but a lot of the indications that we're getting from the family members in North Carolina is that they believe this boy found in Chicago is theirs. How is it that your center got involved in the search to begin with?
ERNIE ALLEN, NATL. CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: Well, Leon, we were involve interested day one. We learned about the case. We circulated photos of Buddy Myers all over America and around the world. We have generated leads. We worked with Samson County law enforcement in North Carolina. And in this instance, even though Buddy had been missing 2 1/2 years, an alert, concerned social worker in Illinois was just concerned that this picture wasn't as it appeared to be. So she went to our Web site, missingkids.com, contacted us with her suspicions, sent us photos of the child, and we are very, very hopeful that this child in Illinois may in fact be Buddy Myers.
HEMMER: Any idea how often that happens in hospital across the country, where someone inside of a hospital will look at a child that's been brought in there, and will then immediately think to go check your Web site?
ALLEN: Well, it probably doesn't happen very often. And I think this is a case study not just for professionals, not just health care professionals and social workers, but for every citizen. If you have suspicion, go to the Web site and look at the pictures. Children are coming home in record numbers because of caring people who take that minute to check.
HEMMER: This is -- how often have you ever found a child found after 2 1/2 years?
ALLEN: Not as frequently as children recovered in a day or the week following their disappearance. But there's another message here, and that's a message of hope for the families who are searching for missing children. These kids could be anywhere. There are a variety of circumstances under which they could disappear. We need to keep hope alive to bring more of these children home.
HEMMER: It looks like hope has been kept alive for that family in North Carolina. Ernie Allen, thanks for coming in and talking with us about it. The Web site, in case you folks are interested, is missingkids.com.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
