Missing Child SOS Line Registered 50 Calls This Year

This year, the SOS Missing Children helpline has already received 50 cases related to the disappearance of minors, close to 58 registered in 2022 by the Instituto de Apoio à Criança (IAC).

International Missing Children’s Day is celebrated on this Thursday, and with respect to the date, the IAC has summed up the contacts received through a line created in 2004 with the aim of “combating situations of disappearances, abductions and sexual abuse of minors.”

Last year, 58 applications were filed, which is the highest figure in the last eight years. In 2015, the IAC received 60 applications.

However, according to monthly reports published on the IAC website, the number of applications received this year is already close to last year’s number, with 50 applications of various nature received by April.

Most of the contacts involved escape from the institution (23), followed by requests for information on cases (14), parental abduction (four) and requests for helpline information (three).

There were also two complaints about abduction and four other complaints about unaccompanied migrant children, the risk of disappearance, running away from home and other types of disappearance.

“This line receives phone, ’email’, ‘chat’ and ‘WhatsApp’ appeals from anyone who wishes to report disappearances and/or situations of sexual abuse/exploitation, offering complainants guidance and support in psychological, legal and social,” the IAC said in a statement.

To commemorate the International Day of Missing Children, the Institute will take part in international campaigns and carry out educational and preventive activities in schools.

The International Day of Missing Children has been celebrated in Portugal since 2004 at the initiative of the IAC.