The Program's National Impact
After the Milk Carton Campaign began, a concerted effort was made to combat the problem using media and technology in imaginative ways. Congress passed acts such as the "Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act, Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act, International Child Abduction Remedies Act, Missing Children's Act, Missing Children's Assistance Act, and National Child Search Assistance Act" (USA Today); Several organizations were created to aid families (to see a complete list, click here); the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children was created to be a clearinghouse for information. Awareness and safety were promoted and technology improved the spread of information.
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The Milk Carton featuring Johnny Gosch and Juanita Estevez, as one of LIFE's "100 Photographs That Changed The World"
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Safety and Awareness
Media helped promote awareness of missing children and instructed children how to protect themselves from attacks. Television, comic books, and Internet sites included the issue of missing children more often in their content. With the power of the Internet, sending information from one place to another is quicker than it was 20 years ago:
"After realizing the success of the missing children photos and Safetypup® Prevention Tips on the milk cartons, in January of 1985, National Child Safety Council joined forces with grocery bag manufacturers as a means of circulating photos of missing children as well as Safetypup® child safety messages." Example of grocery bag posters. Click to enlarge.
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"The Berenstains Bears" book "Learn About Strangers", 1985.
"Product packaging was only one aspect of 1980s-era missing-children campaigns. Lois Lane investigated missing-children cases in comic books. The Berenstain Bears warned children about stranger danger. The heroes of detective novels searched for abducted children. Civic groups fingerprinted children, and the prints were part of a kit that parents could give to police if a child disappeared. Children were taught to demand a "secret word" from a neighbor or friend sent to pick them up from soccer practice when mom or dad ran late at work." |
In 1993, the American rock band Soul Asylum released a song called "Runaway Train" dedicated to runaway and missing youth. Its music video featured pictures of missing children with their names and "missing since...", and it helped many of those kids to reunite with their families.
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First image to appear on the "Runaway Train" music video.
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