Our children...

      Breaking news: 3 young  missing boys dead in Camden, NJ.  

     How I hate bad news about our children..  Yes, OUR children.  They are our nation's children.  So many missing kids; abducted kids; kids who do dangerous things because they are kids and lack skills to foresee the danger.

       It sounds likely that the Camden kids were playing, and climbed into the trunk of a car near the house of one of the kids.  Maybe they were going to play hide n seek from the mother...  we'll never know.  The trunk was closed, or closed for some reason, and there they were... for two days... in this extreme heat...  Did they call out, bang on the car?  Seems likely they did - if only they had been heard. 

     I cry when I see news like this.  I hurt for the parents.  I hurt for the kids. 

     This journal and my writing isn't a place to point fingers; that isn't my intent tonight.  But, I do think better protocols need to be established as a baseline search when a child goes missing.  It should be in 3 areas:

 (1) the child's home, crawlspaces, yard/acreage, out buildings, garage, and all vehicles before anyone can drive any off / away from the propety;

(2) the neighborhood - alleys, abandoned buildings, creeks, sheds, stairwells, etc.

(3) the larger community, including the Amber Alert if appropriate. 

And all 3 should be done simultaneously, in every missing child case.

          A police dog supposedly  "tracked" the boys to the river and lost the scent.  All the while, the car in which they were trapped was within sight of the house.  Maybe the police dog tracked an old scent? 

          How many people walked right on by that car?

          I will get on a soap box here about one thing.  Isn't it time for all vehicles, including old models, to be fitted with some internal trunk release mechanism?  State governments regulate other vehicle laws at times of registration and renewal; a trunk safety release could be enforced at that time.  A law needs to be made to address vehicles that sit disabled or junked, even on private property, that replaces the key/lock trunk mechanism with a non-locking replacement until the vehicle is running & usable again.  How many more kids need to die before we make sich simple changes?

        Issues of child abduction, molestation and murder is beyond what I can emotionally address here.  As a nation, we are doing a poor job watching and protecting, and then finding those who are missing.  Heck, USA "child protective" agencies are not even doing a good job keeping track of kids in their "care and control."  We need better guidelines here too, and punishment for those who don't do their jobs. 

        In the end, we have too many baby and child funerals.  When will we treasure our kids and create better plans to rescue/help kids when something goes amiss?