Protect Your Child From Kidnapping

April 26, 2006 — -- Ed Smart and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children have joined together to give parents crucial information they need to protect their children.

Nearly 800,000 children are reported missing every year, a nightmare Smart learned firsthand when his daughter Elizabeth was abducted from their home in 2002. She was found eight months later after an intensive police investigation.

"Everyone's doing wonderful," Smart said. "This whole project comes back to what happened that first morning. … Getting a current picture ID out there was critical."

Based on its ordeal, the Smart family has joined the national center's "Power of Parents" campaign, which is designed to help families prepare, protect and empower their children.

The campaign encourages parents to always have an up-to-date photo of their children, taking a new one every six months. A recent survey conducted by Duracell and the center found that only 46 percent of parents or guardians believed that having a recent photo of a child for emergency purposes was important. Additionally, only 49 percent of parents or guardians who have an emergency photo of their child update it every six months.

You can learn more about the program and download a child safety tool kit at www.duracell.com/parents