Missing Children Society of Canada's Milk Carton 2.0 Continues to Work to Find Missing Children in Canada

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - May 25, 2015) - Today marks the annual International Missing Children's Day, a day dedicated to raising the awareness of missing children globally and the opportunity to honour those children and families that have been and are still to be reunited. The Missing Children Society of Canada dedicates its efforts 365 days a year to raising the awareness of missing children through its one-of-a-kind Milk Carton 2.0 Search program that activates social and traditional media to grow the national network of individual Canadians actively engaged in the search of children gone missing.

"Today we pay tribute to all of those families facing the difficult and heart-wrenching circumstances of dealing with a missing child," says Amanda Pick, CEO of Missing Children Society of Canada. "Our Search program includes the Most Valuable Network that allows Canadians to donate their social media news feeds on Facebook, Twitter and Four Square, as well as our CodeSearch app that employees of our amazing corporate partners. Both allow us to push real-time and geo-targeted information updates on missing children in this country and, as a result, our Search program has expanded our reach and support of law enforcement with real success in reuniting families."

According to RCMP statistics, more than 41,000 children went missing in Canada in 2014, the equivalent of one child every 12 minutes. "The statistics are staggering, and our goal is not only to find and reunite those children with their families, but also to work towards the goal of eliminating the issue," continues Ms. Pick. "It's a huge goal, and we knew through unleashing the power of technology that we would be connecting Canadians in a way like never before and our Search program has brought children home. We were the first in the world to launch a Search program that allowed people to donate their social media feeds and our app is also the first of its kind. Our Search program is receiving international attention."

The Missing Children Society of Canada launched its Milk Carton 2.0 Search program in 2012, and has since received the endorsement of the Canadian Association of Police Chiefs in 2014 as a critical toolkit in supporting law enforcement efforts to find missing children.

Of the 41,000 children reported missing, very few warrant an AMBER alert which most people associate with missing children. "Consider that there were fewer than a dozen AMBER alerts broadcast in 2014. Many missing children cases do not meet the AMBER alert threshold because they are runaways, for example. But those children are prone to exposure of serious risk factors including being lured in to very dangerous situations," explains Ms. Pick. "Our goal at the Missing Children Society of Canada is to provide an expansive search network to bring every child home to a safe haven."

In addition to its Search program, the Missing Children Society of Canada provides support investigations to assist law enforcement with active and ongoing case files, as well as family and peer support to assist families dealing with the unimaginable difficulties of dealing with a missing child as well as the process of reunification.

"At the heart of our organization is the goal of keeping hope alive for families," says Ms. Pick. "Whether a case is two days old or 20 years old, the families and children we support need to be able to know that there is hope until they have the answers they need and, ultimately, until the missing child is found."

To find out more about the Missing Children Society of Canada's Milk Carton 2.0 and to donate, visit www.valuableproject.ca.

Since 1986, the Missing Children Society of Canada has been reuniting missing children with their searching families through professional investigations, emergency response, public awareness and family support programs. To learn more, please visit www.mcsc.ca.