Child Abduction

Waking up to Every Parent's Worst Nightmare

By Linda Sharp

Another state, another bedroom, another innocent sleeping child abducted in the middle of the night. Another mother and father awakened from sweet dreams to be thrust into their worst nightmare.

So many parents have gone to sleep in the past thinking, "It only happens in other places," only to wake up and find that the name of their town has been changed to "Other Places."

Like every parent reading or watching the news when these abductions are made public, my heart skips a beat and my stomach begins to ache. The parents of these children are thrust into a hell they could never imagine, a hell I never want to experience firsthand. The absolute agony of knowing your child was in jeopardy and you slept through it. But how?

In the case of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart of Salt Lake City, Utah (abducted 6/5/02), it crystallized what these criminals use as their main weapon. She and her younger sister, also in the room at the time, were paralyzed into submission, both made mute by the threat of harm to Elizabeth.

Fear. The single most powerful weapon an abductor has on their side. Fear that buys them silence. Fear that buys them time.

We teach our children. We teach them to look both ways before crossing a street. We teach them how to dial 9-1-1 in emergencies. We warn them to "not take candy from or talk to strangers." We police them as they chat on the Internet. We practice fire drills in our homes. We buy smoke detectors and security systems for our homes. We make them take vitamins. Make them eat right, sleep enough, brush their teeth. We do everything we can to educate them, keep them from harm. And then one four-letter emotion renders all our efforts useless.

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