The first few hours after a child goes missing are by far the most critical.
As part of their emergency response search program, The Missing Children Society of Canada (MCSC) have set up the Most Valuable Network™ (MVN), a platform that sends time-sensitive alerts and information across Facebook and Twitter to help Canadians recover missing children.
MCSC recently partnered with Microsoft to improve the MVN application, speeding up alerts and expanding their reach. They have also created a new widget that allows users to donate their Facebook and Twitter feeds in order to disseminate alerts. We spoke with Amanda Pick, CEO of MCSC, to find out how it works.
How effective is the Most Valuable Network in terms of finding missing kids?
Our police partners have continuously expressed how it supports the work they do in helping to find missing children. The Search Program has been recognized internationally for helping to close numerous cases – it is a game changer.
“When we are able to get information from a command center like this and we’re able to put it right into [peoples’] hands where they can look at a photograph, that is a game changer for us. There’s nobody else in North America doing that. We have had subjects that have been arrested…and those subjects themselves have talked about how everywhere they went that their face or the child’s face was in the media and that prompted them to turn themselves in.” ~Inspector Cliff O’Brien of the Calgary Police Services
However, as a not-for-profit grassroots organization, we can use your help to spread the word and connect with more people. That is why partnerships like the one with Microsoft is important – their additional voice and support along with our efforts makes a difference in empowering our police partners to help bring missing children home and reunite families.
In remote areas, the ability to help may be limited because of the time and resources that are needed to help locate people; however, the potential of this network is to have help and resources ready in every community across Canada. Just the information itself can make a critical difference in finding a child. We want every Canadian to have the ability to be a part of the Most Valuable Network, thereby ensuring that we get the information to the right person in the right place to find a missing child.
Could this tech be described as an AMBER Alert via social media?
In Canada, 41,000 children are reported missing every year. While most people associate missing children with AMBER Alerts, very few children reported missing in our country meet the AMBER Alert threshold criteria. In addition, a large percentage of missing children are considered ‘at risk’ runaways (who we now refer to as Vulnerable Youth) because these children are exposed to extreme challenges and dangerous situations once away from their home, including drugs, violence, human trafficking, and homelessness.
MCSC uses a mix of mobile and social technology to amplify both AMBER Alerts and to connect communities with information about a missing child where an AMBER Alert may not be issued, but the police need assistance in helping to reunite a child with their family or return them to a safe haven.
Missing Children Society of Canada CEO Amanda Pick
Can you explain what donating our ‘feeds’ means exactly?
The first couple seconds a child goes missing are most critical. We know that it only takes one person in the right place at the right time to help bring that child home. So, by “donating” your Facebook and Twitter feeds, you are simply allowing MCSC to push notifications about a missing child directly on your newsfeed and joining in the online search effort.
Neither Microsoft nor MCSC has access to your personal information as MVN does not require you to enter any personal information. You are simply allowing MCSC to post the notification on your Facebook and Twitter feed.
How can you see this project expanding in the next few years?
Imagine if an abductor couldn’t drive down the street, couldn’t get gas, couldn’t go into a store, get on a plane, bus, train – literally could not go anywhere because of the knowledge that every person across the country was connected and has the information about the child or the abductor and is waiting to help the police bring that child home.
That is what is possible now with this Search Network, but we need your help to reach every Canadian.
With our first MVN platform, we were able to connect information to over a million people. This meant that MCSC was able to help the police by taking our technology platforms and connecting a country with the critical information needed to help find a missing child and to keep our children safe. Now, with our partnership with Microsoft, we were able to connect information to over five million people within seconds. The Microsoft Azure platform is so critical for us because the MVN continues to grow organically every time we use it. Being on Azure ensures that no matter how many individuals join our network – even the whole country – the system will be supported.
What do you want people to know about this Search Program?
I want people to know the reason the Search Program was created and what it means to me personally. I started working at the Missing Children Society of Canada six years ago and when people would ask me where I worked, I would tell them and immediately they would say how terribly sad my job must be and then quickly change the subject. However, I never felt that way for a moment because I knew that I was working to bring missing children home and that made me feel empowered.
The Search Program was created by people like you and me who would do anything to not only keep their own children safe but wanted all children to be safe. Our journey became how to make that possible and technology was the answer. I’m so proud that we have such amazing partners like Microsoft, who are helping us work towards a future where children do not go missing.
So, get involved. You can make a difference by donating your Facebook and Twitter feeds. Together we can all make a difference and bring more children home.
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