NaNoWriMo is over for another year. Having competed and completed my very seat of the pants novel, I am now getting back into my long time writing project. The transition from writing without thought to my usual, plan it, research it, write it, update it, add more, style of writing is abrupt.
The undercurrent in this novel includes missing people of various types. I am going to quickly let you in on some interesting things I am discovering.
There is a large number of unidentified remains and living people on record in the NCIC, a national data base. A foster child is less likely to have an Amber Alert posted on their behalf if they go missing. There are a lot of people who are missing but not reported because they were forced out by their families. I am calling these missing our Throwaways.
An unidentified body may belong to a person who is a run away, a criminal, a parent dodging child support, a person with mental illness, or any number of situations. They may not have been entered into the data base to begin with. Or, the remains may be partial or degraded to a point where the budget for identification does not allow the television type identification to happen.
At the end of December in 2008, there were 199 living humans who were unidentified. They have not been reported as missing and for various reasons do not know their personal identity.
Because of privacy issues, a child in custody of the state, in foster care may not be the recipient of an Amber alert. There are various reasons for this, none in my opinion are worthy of letting these kids become unidentified remains or victims of abuse or human trafficking.
Many teen aged people are constant run aways or so disruptive to their families that instead of making a missing persons report, the family sighs with relief and hopes for the best. Some of these same teens are running because their families pose a physical and psychological danger to them.
Having touched on these issues, is there anything anyone can do to curb these numbers? In my research of these problems I have not saved or identified a single victim, nor have I lessened anyone’s risk of becoming one of these missing people. I feel fairly powerless.
Does public awareness cause social change? Does knowing a number change the number?
I am leaving you with these questions and inviting you to make a comment. Till the week’s end, I am going back to my writing project. Be well everyone and stay in touch.
Comments
One response to “Throwaway People in the United States”
Sally, you may feel powerless, but you’ve taken probably as much control of the situation as you possibly could–you told us about it.
You’ve made a few more people aware of the problem, which gives the victims and potential victims just that fraction of a percentage more hope. Never apologize for doing something small, when small is the only thing you can do.
Thank you, Sally!