Missing Children of Hurricane Katrina

Sept. 8, 2005 -- -- In a week of so much sorrow, it was a moment of pure joy when Daphne Valteau finally held her 6-year-old niece, Ariel, who had been separated from her family during Hurricane Katrina.

"Miracles can happen, because after New Orleans, I was so scared and frantic in California I didn't think I would ever see my family again," Valteau said.

Valteau drove from California to Houston to collect Ariel and planned to continue to Atlanta to reunite her with her mother.

While Ariel's story has a happy ending, hundreds of other children in shelters are still looking for their parents. Some are too young to tell social workers their own name or the name of their parents.

"If you look in the faces of these 4- and 5-year-olds who have lost everything and who don't know where their mothers and fathers are, you see hollowness," said Ernie Allen of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. "You see a sense of desperation, of isolation. We need to restore what's most basic to their lives as quickly as we can, and we're trying to do it."

A list of 829 missing children has been compiled, according to Nancy McBride, national safety director for the center. She said 125 cases have been resolved.

"For families who lost everything, let's make sure that they can at least be together to start over," McBride said. "If you know anything, even a small piece of information, call us."

Photos of children still looking for family can be found on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's Web site.