Karnataka - Bangalore   

Look for missing children online

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

With the band: Minister for Women and Child Development H.K. Kumaraswamy interacting with members of the BOSCO band before launching the Missing Child Search website at the Bal Bhavan in Bangalore on Saturday.

Bangalore: It might bring some solace to parents who are searching for their missing children. With the help of Missing Child Search (MCS) they can look for them online at www.missingchildsearch.net, which was launched here on Saturday.

The website will store in its database information on all children who have gone missing, as soon as a family member lodges a complaint about the missing child. In Karnataka, the MCS was initiated by the voluntary organisation BOSCO, which works with children in difficult situations and is partnered by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Department of Women and Child Development, the police and a few other non-governmental organisations.

The MCS is a Web-based application for unaccompanied children and children in difficult situations and parents who are searching for their children. It is an online service exclusively for children at risk. Anyone who loses his/her child can lodge a complaint and search online. As part of the website, any concerned citizen can join the caring community that helps restore a lost child by being part of the MCS website. People can also support an unaccompanied child (a child who lands on the street alone) that needs care and protection.

The website is the programme of Homelink Network (HLK) and is operated and viewed regularly by personnel who are part of the network. “The network consists of 65 cities across the country and involves many voluntary organisations working in this field. In Karnataka, around 12 NGOs involved in the project will feed any information that they get about a missing child, and this will be verified by the police,” George Kollashany, country director, Homelink Network, New Delhi, said.

Inaugurating the website, Minister for Women and Child Development H.K. Kumaraswamy said the main aim of the project was to prevent children getting lost and the website would go a long way in ensuring this.

Sonny George, chief, Child Protection, UNICEF, New Delhi; Shalini Rajneesh, Secretary, Women and Child Development Department; and Edward Thomas, national coordinator, MCS, were among others present at the launch.

The Minister arrived around one and a half hours late for the launch. The music band consisting of children from BOSCO had been waiting since 9.30 a.m. while the Minister arrived close to 12.30 p.m.

Moreover, while making his speech he apologised to the media for being late but not a single word was said to the children at the programme who had been waiting since morning.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

MLAs seek details on Haneef case In the legislature
‘State has failed to make the most of JNNURM’
58 legislators file fuzzy assets details
Look for missing children online
Circulars on Kodagu ‘Bane’ lands withdrawn
Law sought for scrutiny of public conduct of judges
Karwar ruckus: court of inquiry finds Captain guilty
Judge for spreading awareness on ADR
New way to beat order on medium of instruction
One medical camp leads to another
North Karnataka neglected: Kharge
‘Encounter was murder’
Lineman injured
Pirated Potter books seized
It was a musical downpour

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu