Barbara Huggett
Director of Research and Development for the National Child Safety Council
S: What was it like before 1984 if your child went missing?
BH: Before 1984, there were missing children groups that were small around the country: Nevada Child Seekers, the Missing Children Help Center in Tampa, FL. But there was no organized effort or national program to coordinate all of their efforts. The National Center of Missing and Exploited Children in Washington was just coming into being. They didn’t even have a phone number yet. We had seen what was being done in the Anderson Erickson Dairy milk cartons in Des Moines, IA. Two newspaper carriers were missing: Johnny Gosch and Eugene Martin. Our founder, H. R. Wilkinson, decided that it would be nice to coordinate a national program where these kids’ photos wouldn’t just be seen locally, but could be seen nationwide. Most of these children, we found out, were taken across state lines rather quickly after they’re abducted, so it’s important to get the word out quickly and fast. There were no laws at the time; there were no Amber Alerts back then to get the word out to the public quickly. That’s a law that has changed drastically. The NCIC computers were not set up to handle this information, the National Crime Information Center. Probably the most important thing that happened with this program was helping to bring this topic out in the public light and encourage change. And now, people talk about it, they, you know, it’s common knowledge, and a lot’s been done to help find these children. We all know speed is very important.
S: Were there regional variations? Like, if your child went missing in L.A., or New York? Or was it something that was actually around the USA equally?
BH: We were the first to do this nationally, and all the children that we used at the time were what they used to call “Danger Stranger” abductions. Nowadays you’d say “Abducted by Someone Unknown to the Child”. They weren’t “Non-Custodial Parental Abductions” where the parent that doesn’t have custody might take the child, and they weren’t the “Throwaway Children”. We had about 70 children at the time, and we rotated all of them on all milk cartons. That way, no matter where the child was, they would be potentially, you know, there might be a chance of finding them. That’s not to say there weren’t even local dairies that were featuring children when the law enforcement department would ask. So, once we started, a lot of different things happened from there once people got the idea and could see the power that there was getting those faces out in the public.
S: And today, because of the milk cartons, what helped for missing children?
BH: There are certain procedures that were changed; certainly the Amber Alerts were the big thing. Also, law enforcement officers changed how long they have to wait before they start searching. It used to be that a child missing kinda went under a missing person category and they had to be missing for a certain amount of time before they could even start looking. I think the common thought was that maybe the child wandered to the neighbors, or was hiding in the house somewhere and the mother didn’t know they were there, sort of that kind of thing. And now we know we can’t wait. If a child is missing, we need to throw into action immediately. And certainly the Amber Alerts helped that too.
S: And were there often parent abductions?
BH: There certainly are non-custodial parental abductions also, sure. But the children we used in the milk carton program, to the best of our knowledge and from all the information from the local police department, were more, what we would have termed at the time, stranger abductions.
S: And nowadays has the internet changed things, or it’s just mainly police and stuff?
BH: Well, I think the first thing that needs to happen immediately is in that location where you start searching the neighborhood and things like that, so probably the internet is maybe not quite as involved right of the bat, you’re more apt to see the Amber Alert on TV, that kinda thing. But there may be communities that have different alert systems, they may have email or push systems, even the phones and things like that to alert people. Every community may have a different system.
S: Do you might know a family of a child who was found because of the milk cartons that we could maybe contact?
BH: Well, that’s trickier business. Part of the problem is that the children that we used that were stranger abductions, most of the time, just like Adam Walsh and that situation, because they were abducted by strangers who meant them harm, as opposed to a non-custodial parent who probably isn’t gonna kill the child. If a child was found deceased, it didn’t come up as a missing child, it came up as a homicide. There just weren’t many found unfortunately, so there aren’t those kinds of cases. The most important thing probably, rather than finding a bunch of kids with the program, was the public awareness that it created, plus an opportunity to find those children. But unfortunately a lot of them just weren’t.
Also, you might wanna know that, from the milk cartons, it was so popular it went to grocery bags, and the National Child Watch Campaign was the gas water and electric companies across the country… One thing led to another, and so… truck posters… you name it! It was a wonderful outlet to let people know. And then we did the little smaller milk cartons, our little mascot safety pup, we did safety tips for the kids so they wouldn’t become one of these abducted children.
S: As a consequence of the milk cartons, did something change with technology for finding those kids?
BH: The NCIC computer, all their technology as far as coordinating this information changed. So that would probably be your technology angle there. There was no network or procedure to share information, and now of course you have the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children also.
BH: Before 1984, there were missing children groups that were small around the country: Nevada Child Seekers, the Missing Children Help Center in Tampa, FL. But there was no organized effort or national program to coordinate all of their efforts. The National Center of Missing and Exploited Children in Washington was just coming into being. They didn’t even have a phone number yet. We had seen what was being done in the Anderson Erickson Dairy milk cartons in Des Moines, IA. Two newspaper carriers were missing: Johnny Gosch and Eugene Martin. Our founder, H. R. Wilkinson, decided that it would be nice to coordinate a national program where these kids’ photos wouldn’t just be seen locally, but could be seen nationwide. Most of these children, we found out, were taken across state lines rather quickly after they’re abducted, so it’s important to get the word out quickly and fast. There were no laws at the time; there were no Amber Alerts back then to get the word out to the public quickly. That’s a law that has changed drastically. The NCIC computers were not set up to handle this information, the National Crime Information Center. Probably the most important thing that happened with this program was helping to bring this topic out in the public light and encourage change. And now, people talk about it, they, you know, it’s common knowledge, and a lot’s been done to help find these children. We all know speed is very important.
S: Were there regional variations? Like, if your child went missing in L.A., or New York? Or was it something that was actually around the USA equally?
BH: We were the first to do this nationally, and all the children that we used at the time were what they used to call “Danger Stranger” abductions. Nowadays you’d say “Abducted by Someone Unknown to the Child”. They weren’t “Non-Custodial Parental Abductions” where the parent that doesn’t have custody might take the child, and they weren’t the “Throwaway Children”. We had about 70 children at the time, and we rotated all of them on all milk cartons. That way, no matter where the child was, they would be potentially, you know, there might be a chance of finding them. That’s not to say there weren’t even local dairies that were featuring children when the law enforcement department would ask. So, once we started, a lot of different things happened from there once people got the idea and could see the power that there was getting those faces out in the public.
S: And today, because of the milk cartons, what helped for missing children?
BH: There are certain procedures that were changed; certainly the Amber Alerts were the big thing. Also, law enforcement officers changed how long they have to wait before they start searching. It used to be that a child missing kinda went under a missing person category and they had to be missing for a certain amount of time before they could even start looking. I think the common thought was that maybe the child wandered to the neighbors, or was hiding in the house somewhere and the mother didn’t know they were there, sort of that kind of thing. And now we know we can’t wait. If a child is missing, we need to throw into action immediately. And certainly the Amber Alerts helped that too.
S: And were there often parent abductions?
BH: There certainly are non-custodial parental abductions also, sure. But the children we used in the milk carton program, to the best of our knowledge and from all the information from the local police department, were more, what we would have termed at the time, stranger abductions.
S: And nowadays has the internet changed things, or it’s just mainly police and stuff?
BH: Well, I think the first thing that needs to happen immediately is in that location where you start searching the neighborhood and things like that, so probably the internet is maybe not quite as involved right of the bat, you’re more apt to see the Amber Alert on TV, that kinda thing. But there may be communities that have different alert systems, they may have email or push systems, even the phones and things like that to alert people. Every community may have a different system.
S: Do you might know a family of a child who was found because of the milk cartons that we could maybe contact?
BH: Well, that’s trickier business. Part of the problem is that the children that we used that were stranger abductions, most of the time, just like Adam Walsh and that situation, because they were abducted by strangers who meant them harm, as opposed to a non-custodial parent who probably isn’t gonna kill the child. If a child was found deceased, it didn’t come up as a missing child, it came up as a homicide. There just weren’t many found unfortunately, so there aren’t those kinds of cases. The most important thing probably, rather than finding a bunch of kids with the program, was the public awareness that it created, plus an opportunity to find those children. But unfortunately a lot of them just weren’t.
Also, you might wanna know that, from the milk cartons, it was so popular it went to grocery bags, and the National Child Watch Campaign was the gas water and electric companies across the country… One thing led to another, and so… truck posters… you name it! It was a wonderful outlet to let people know. And then we did the little smaller milk cartons, our little mascot safety pup, we did safety tips for the kids so they wouldn’t become one of these abducted children.
S: As a consequence of the milk cartons, did something change with technology for finding those kids?
BH: The NCIC computer, all their technology as far as coordinating this information changed. So that would probably be your technology angle there. There was no network or procedure to share information, and now of course you have the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children also.