The AMBER Alert System was officially launched by the Child Alert Foundation in 1998, following the 1996 disappearance and murder of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman. Whilst the AMBER alert is named after her, it is also an acronym for ‘America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response’. The system aims to provide vital information about missing or abducted children, in the hopes that the general public will be able to assist in the safe return of the child and apprehension of the suspect. Alerts are most commonly sent to cell phones but they can also be distributed to radio stations, TV stations and the many other forms of wireless communication. 

Amber Hagerman was a sweet 9-year-old girl who was abducted near her home in Arlington, Texas on January 15th 1996. Sadly, 4 days after Amber went missing her body was found just 5 miles away from where she had gone missing. In the days after her daughter's death, Donna Whitson called for tougher laws around kidnapping and sex offenders. Thanks to the tireless campaigning of Amber Hagerman’s family and other families just like them, the AMBER Alert System was born. 7 in every 10 AMBER Alert cases lead to successful reunification of the children with their parents, so why don’t we use this system in the UK?

In the UK, we have a child alert system which was first used in 2012 in the case of missing 5 year old, April Jones. This system is called the Child Rescue Alert however, this system is voluntary and citizens have to sign up to receive alerts about missing children in their area. What I would like to do is bring this before Parliament so that we can have a mandatory alert system, much like the US. Please sign the petition so that Parliament has to discuss the implementation of a UK wide, mandatory alert system for missing children.